He’d never had any love for Senator Tawren, but he didn’t think him among the worst either. Right now, the senator’s eyes were wild and full of the same fury reflected in Faren’s own. No doubt he’d gone straight to his friend Primen to ask for his help in getting Leiya back. In that mistake, he truly matched his daughter. Faren wondered if those mistakes happened to people who trusted and had friends. And what he would do if either Diego or Eleya ever betrayed him like that.#p#分页标题#e#
The first words out of his mouth seemed to startle everyone in the huge hall.
“Let him speak.”
Primen’s wild, insane eyes flickered between him and Tawren, searching for the trick.
“Why?” he demanded. “He’s got nothing to do with this, other than being the unfortunate father of your little star.”
Leiya whimpered beside him, still clinging to his arm, but her pull was no longer as keen. She was also surprised. Faren wondered what went on in her mind, knowing the senator wasn't truly her father. It seemed it didn't matter to her. He was still her family.
“Last words.”
The whimper turned into a full-blown scream.
“Don’t!” she shouted, both at him and at Primen. “Please don’t! Let him go! Father!”
The traitor laughed, hearing her plea. It was sickening for Faren, but he waited. With insane enemies, you let them think what they chose to believe.
“I can’t even say I’m mad,” Primen called to him. “That would imply that I’m surprised. Of course the great Faren doesn’t plead with someone like me. What’s one life with your honor at stake, right?”
He turned to his guards.
“Do as the General says.”
Faren watched the sell-sword that had been restraining Senator Tawren remove the blade from his throat. He could see the blood trickling down, could smell it. A Brion warrior’s senses sharpened when he was angry, and Faren didn’t remember ever being this mad.
Leiya’s father rubbed his throat, coughing. The look he sent his former friend now that he could turn his head might have killed a lesser man. Faren could relate to that emotion at least.
The screams and the pleas died on Leiya’s lips as she turned to look at the senator.
“Father,” she said.
The voice that easily carried over vast audiences could barely be heard.
“Little spark,” Senator Tawren replied. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I never told you. I only wanted the best for you."
His voice was rough and the edge of terrible anger lingered underneath.
Whatever it was in that phrase, it made Leiya scream without sound, almost collapsing to her knees. It was the most horrifying sight Faren had ever seen.
That was all the senator said to her. It seemed to be enough. He turned to Faren instead. The look in his eyes was hard and unloving. Their feelings for each other were quite mutual.
Give me a reason, Faren called to him in his mind. Any reason.
For a moment, Senator Tawren just looked at him, breathing heavily. It seemed even Primen was waiting for what he had to say. Would he beg for his life? Would he curse? Would he swear revenge, futile as it would be?
“Do as you must,” was what he really said. “His word is good for nothing. I am a Brion. I can die. You look after my little spark now. I promised I'd keep her safe.”
A part of Faren had expected Leiya to really fall apart at that. Instead she rose like a tidal wave up from the floor, pure agony in her beautiful green eyes.
“No!” she screamed, and her voice was at its full power. “Don’t say that! Don’t you dare just lie down and die so that asshole has his revenge!”
Then she turned to Faren, a look in her eyes few people had dared to send his way.
“You can’t let him die like that! I swear I will never forgive you if you let my father die to that psychopath!”
Leiya still called him "father", showing her true affection for the man, none of which the general shared. So it was fairly ironic that he agreed.
In his heart of hearts, under the pride and the reserve, resided a deep-seated belief in the Brion way. He was a part of it. Here and there it seemed to people as though he did as he pleased, but that was rarely – if ever – so. Faren saw himself as a servant of the Brions, tasked to protect them. Mostly it meant against all dangers the galaxy could come up with. Sometimes, however, it meant other Brions.
He’d asked for a reason. Leiya’s father had chosen to face his death like a true Brion. It was admirable, but it would have been a lie to say he would do it for him. It was Leiya, would always only be Leiya he would surrender to.
“Leave,” he ordered his men.
A hush went through the grand hall, from both sides of the confrontation. Even Leiya was shocked speechless.
“General…” a very brave and very foolish voice began, only to stop at once.
“I will handle them myself,” Faren said.#p#分页标题#e#
As he heard them shuffle out, he kept his gaze locked with Primen’s. In his eyes Faren saw the mirror image of his earlier desire to have him bleed to death. Only in Primen’s case, the desire was for his humiliation. Just as fierce, just as desperate and hungry. The traitor senator’s eyes were so bright he looked to be in a fever. Faren didn’t know if he should take it for a compliment that someone would be willing to die to hear him plead.
“Miracles do happen after all,” Primen said when his warriors were gone.
His voice was hoarse and raspy.
Faren knew what had to be going through his mind – recalculating everything, basing all his actions around this new premise that he would actually do as he was ordered. Images of freedom, of an almost impossible escape. Routes to flee, nearest ports to take a hovercraft to either a trusted friend or leave Briolina as soon as possible.
It was a lot of things to consider, so Faren had to act fast while the senator’s mind was still calibrating. Even the mercenaries looked invigorated. They had been preparing to die at the worst and escape at the best. If Faren had been anyone else, they would have betrayed Primen a long time ago, but everyone knew the Monster of Briolina didn’t forgive.
“You will let him go?” he asked.
Primen’s eyes were keen and watchful on him, but that was what Faren wanted. He took a step forward, talking as he moved. Leiya came with him, a small blessing. If she kept near him, they wouldn’t notice how the distance between them shrunk. Her eyes were still wide, unbelieving.
“Drop your weapon first,” Primen ordered.
Faren did.
“You will let him go?” he repeated, keeping the senator’s attention fixed on him.
It was important to keep them all focused on him talking, him bargaining to the terms of their lives. Keeping the bait of still seeing the next morning was too much of a distraction to pay much attention to the situation itself. And he wasn’t walking fast or very close, just coming closer – maybe just to be better heard.
Primen’s eyes were burning now. The temptation was too great for him. To hear Faren beg. It was an idea so absurd he could see Primen’s mind trying to cope to the mere concept of it.
“Oh, I will,” Primen promised, but he barely bothered to make the lie believable anymore.
He was simply convinced that Faren had already decided to go through with it for Leiya’s sake, and he no longer had to pretend.
Faren looked at Senator Tawren, silently regretting that the well-known rumor of the Brions being psychic wasn’t true. He could have used a telepathic connection then. He looked Leiya’s father straight in the eye, hoping that the senator would understand. A warrior like him didn’t need a big diversion. A moment, a heartbeat would be enough. Yet he needed a sign to make Tawren understand. There weren’t many guards with Primen, all he needed was for Tawren to be safe for a minute at worst.
Primen was watching him so intensely he barely blinked. Just like his reputation had cost him many things in his life, it now came to Faren’s aid. To be known as such a proud man, Primen didn’t want to miss a single second of his defeat.
Leiya’s hand was still around his, simply holding it now that he’d dropped his ax. It had to do as a signal. Catching Tawren’s gaze, Faren shook Leiya’s hold off. It was the clearest he could make his intentions.
“Now plead,” Primen said, his voice shaking.
After that, many things happened in mere seconds. Several things that were known to be true were also proven to be so.
Brions weren’t psychic, but their politicians had always terrified the rest of the galaxy. They were very perceptive, that was their true ability. From an early age, they just picked up on things. There were two senators in the hall, but only one of them was properly sane. Senator Tawren didn’t wisely wait for any other signal, but dashed away from his guards as fast as he could, rolling to the ground.
And while the politicians had their keen sense for understanding things, the warriors were simply weapons themselves. It was what everyone in the galaxy kept forgetting, but it seemed the Brions were just as guilty. It was the most common and most casually used tactic to carry very large, very visible signature weapons.
The Brion battle spears were the masterclass of arms, but a part of their value was the distraction they offered. With them in his hands, it was so easy to forget that above all, a Brion warrior was also a weapon, much deadlier than any blade.