Jerico closed his eyes, and he begged Ashhur for calm. No fear, he thought, no anger. When he opened them, he saw Arthur watching, waiting. He was on the edge, he knew. A single word, even a harsh look, and he would cancel the entire plan, even at risk of his brother and his soldiers.
“Your brother’s a scoundrel,” Jerico said, and he forced a smile. “But your men aren’t. Promise me you’ll be a good lord for the North, and I’ll go.”
“I’m not sure it’s a promise I can keep,” Arthur said, standing. “Would a good lord hand over a man who’s been faithful to him without reason, and whose courage has saved his life numerous times?”
Jerico stepped close and accepted the man’s embrace.
“I go willingly,” he said.
With that, he turned and exited the tent, where Kevin and his men waited. Jerico unclipped his mace and tossed it at Kevin’s feet.
“Shield too,” Kevin said. “I’ve heard what you can do with it.”
Jerico did so, and one of Kevin’s men scooped up both. Lifting his hands high, the soldiers grabbed him, yanking his arms so they could bind them behind his back.
“Your life for the life of a lord and the control of a castle,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “Such strange games you men of gods play.”
They were two miles out from the wall surrounding the Castle of the Yellow Rose, and they made Jerico walk it, the rest of them mounted. There were over fifty of them, their chainmail rustling with each step of their horse. Kevin himself held the rope that wrapped around Jerico’s chest before looping through the knot binding his hands. At one point he ushered his horse to a trot, and Jerico ran behind, his heavy platemail rattling. Annoyed, Kevin raced faster, so that Jerico had to sprint. At last he lost his footing, and the rope dragged him along. The hard dirt jostled him in his armor, and his face scraped against rocks that left him bleeding.
When the horse slowed, Jerico stumbled to his feet, spat a bit of blood, and then grinned at Kevin.
“Always enjoyed a good run,” he said.
Kevin only shook his head in disbelief.
At the gates of the wall waited a group of dark paladins, all with their weapons drawn. The sight of the fire made the men around Jerico nervous, and he felt an odd compulsion to calm them.
“Just keep me alive, and you’ll be safe,” he said.
A few gave him bewildered looks, and Jerico just shook his head and chuckled.
“Greetings,” Kevin said as they rode up before the paladins. “I am Sir Kevin Maryll, and I bring the prisoner your priest and master requested.”
One of the paladins strode forward, sheathing his sword to show he meant no harm. Maryll’s men parted to give him way. The paladin was a hard man, his face wrinkled and his eyes a crystalline blue. He took Jerico’s face in his hand, lifting him so they might get a better look.
“Are you him?” the dark paladin asked.
“Probably not,” Jerico said, still grinning. “Just Jerico.”
The man struck him across the mouth, then nodded to Kevin.
“Your master has upheld his end of the bargain, so we will uphold ours.”
Waving his finger in a circle in the air, he strode back toward the gate. Curiously, the stone around it looked old and burnt, as if it’d been struck by fire, but the gate itself looked new. With a rumble of metal it opened, and from it approached two priests and a paladin. A haggard man walked between them. His wrists and ankles were bound together with chains, and he shuffled with what little slack they gave. His eyes were blackened, as if he’d been beaten, and his lips were cracked and bleeding. Jerico looked to him, saw the pathetic remnant of a man that had been Sebastian Hemman.
“He is battered, but will live,” said the old paladin as one of the priests took out a key and unlocked the chains.
Sebastian said nothing as he walked unescorted to Kevin. Meanwhile the dark paladins pushed Jerico forward to the gate. As he and Sebastian walked past each other, their eyes met, and Jerico hoped the man might realize the incredible fortune granted to him. They’d ridden to the castle to take his life, yet now he would find safety in their arms.
“Keep an eye out for Kaide,” Jerico said, unable to hold back completely.
A fist struck his cheek, but before it did, Jerico caught a bit of fear in Sebastian’s eyes, and it made him grin through the pain. Not that he wanted to see Sebastian afraid. It was that he finally saw a sign of life in the man for whom he was giving his own.
They did not chain him, nor take off his armor. One of the paladins accepted his shield and mace from Kevin’s men, and another held the rope that tied his arms and hands. They walked in silence through the gate, and as it shut behind him, Jerico winced against his will. Despite the grin on his face, he knew that sound was a death sentence. Whenever Luther abandoned the castle, assuming he even did, Jerico knew he would not be coming with him. Not alive, anyway.