59. Basil - Old Acquaintances

Chapter 59

Old Acquaintances

Watching Hull destroy his mother’s card was like watching our enemies scatter to the wind, the spray of shards their fleeing backsides. I could feel the city of Treledyne become free as the fractured pieces vanished, no longer burdened by its invaders, and for the first time I thought I could hear shouts from the stands: raucous cries of joy from the throats of every living soul who called Treledyne home. It was a glorious moment, made all the more so because of the bond I now shared with Esmi: her emotions echoed in me, blooms of joyous, exuberant light, filling the darkened caverns of my soul. What a wonder that was, feeling again with the full spectrum of emotions. Sensations that had been muted in me these past months were suddenly bright and vivid, and I squeezed her hand tightly in thanks for the unexpected gift, tears touching the edges of my vision.  

Hull rejoined us not long after, looking almost sheepish as he did. “Well, that’s done then.”

Afi crashed into him, holding him tightly and laying into him with kisses. When he came up for air, the rest of us pressed forward, showering him with the accolades and cheer he deserved. Gale sloshed a cup full of wine around in the excitement, getting us all wet, but no one minded. Even Titus the leonid looked pleased off in his corner, no doubt because the winner had come from “his side”. 

“Well fought, well fought,” we all heard old Rakkoden say. When we quieted down enough for the centaur to continue, his head swung our way. “Competitors Esmi and Basil, since your match ended in a draw, I have been instructed to let you decide who shall fight against competitor Hull in the final match. Please do so now.”

I felt a spike of confusion from Esmi. “He just defeated the Primarch,” she said, gesturing toward Hull. “Not to mention both remaining demon generals, as well as the late King reborn, summoning our very ancestors who founded Treledyne. What more could one do to prove themselves worthy of rulership of this city? There’s no need for another match. Don’t you agree, my–” Esmi’s mouth clicked shut, without the slightest indication as to why. She wasn’t looking at me, not yet. Had she… sensed something through our connection? “I beg your pardon,” she said, giving a slight curtsy to everyone. “It appears my husband has something to say.”

All eyes turned to me. I wasn’t entirely prepared to speak, so I took a moment to finish working through my thoughts, unconcerned by the wait it caused. What Hull had accomplished was incredibly impressive. A feat few could have managed. And yet…

“I will participate in the duel,” I said to a room that had gone very quiet. “This is a pivotal moment in Treledyne’s history. Best to be sure.”

Hull stared at me intensely for a moment and then a grin split his face. “No better time for a rematch, eh?”

I felt a small thrill of anticipation that was entirely my own, not bond-given. “My thinking was along the same lines.”

“Boys…” I thought I heard Afi mutter, but over her Rakkoden was talking.

“So shall it be. Now that the participants have been decided, you will each have the opportunity to–” 

A tug on my arm had me walking sideways before I knew it. 

“Excuse me while I speak with my husband for a moment, will you?”

Esmi pulled me over to the wall of the fallen, under the watchful gaze of Edaine – the only soul within earshot as long as we kept our voices low. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was feeling from my new wife, so decided to start with the obvious. “If you are planning to dissuade me from dueling Hull, you are unlikely to succeed. I feel strongly about this.”

She was shaking her head before I finished. “I am well aware. One look at you says it all, even if we weren’t Twin-joined.” A green-bordered card flashed in her off hand. “If you’re going to face Hull, use this.”

My eyes practically popped out of my head. I hadn’t seen that Mythic in quite sometime, to the point that I had largely forgotten about it. “Where did she come from?” I asked, keeping my words hushed.

Esmi didn’t answer, pressing the card into my hands, and I reflexively accepted, quickly tucking it out of sight. 

“Did Alexi only give it back to you recently?” Esmi and the Legendary vampire had exchanged a few different cards during their last meeting, but I had stayed at the edges of the conversation – now I wished I hadn’t been quite so mindful of their privacy. Still, whether Esmi had gotten the card then or when she dueled Alexi, this was hardly the first time she could have told me about the Mythic’s reappearance, especially now that Order cards were useless to her. “I can’t help but notice that you are giving me this card after you and I dueled.

I felt a bit of mirth through our bond before she gave me that coy smile of hers. “Precisely. I’m not in the habit of furnishing my opponents with the means to defeat me.”

She had kept this card back, even after I had shared my own; I could hardly believe it. “You minx,” I told her, but there was no venom to my words. 

“I can be,” she said with a feral grin, and as I walked away she actually smacked my rump.

Rakkoden cleared his throat as I approached. “As I was saying, for this final interim between matches, you may visit anyone you so choose. Most use the opportunity to seek counsel or to say last goodbyes, but the decision is entirely your own.”

“Anyone?” Hull asked, not bothering to hide his skepticism. He stabbed a thumb behind himself. “What about someone locked up in the stands below?”

“Even them,” Rakkoden confirmed in that solemn way he had. “If you are worried about crowds, you may also choose a place you wish to converse to ensure that you are undisturbed during the time you are given. It will not be overlong, mind you, but it will be sufficient to speak on that which truly matters.”

Hull nodded to himself. “I pick–”

Rakkoden held up a hand, forestalling him. “Simply thinking it is enough for the Twins to hear, competitor Hull. Though I appreciate your candor.”

I made my mental selection, and Hull looked to do the same. We eyed each other when nothing changed, then the centaur.

Impatience sat on my tongue but before I had a chance to speak it, there was a flash of light, and suddenly I was standing on a beach, crystal blue waters lapping at the edges of glittering, black sand. I turned, expecting… I wasn’t entirely sure what, but what I found was a small shack of beachwood manned by a multi-armed octopod. The creature was mixing drinks as far as I could tell, passing them to a few patrons who leaned against the sun-baked structure. 

So. An outdoor bar, by all accounts.

I scanned the surrounding dunes, searching out my quarry, and found him almost immediately. I walked as straight as I could through the sand that shifted underfoot, until I reached where he lazed, closer to the water than the bar was. His snore could have rattled armor, but it stopped abruptly when I kicked the chair he was lounging in.

Griff jerked upright. “Who decided to die,” he growled and then he saw me. It’d be a lie to say that watching him flinch didn’t satisfy a deep part of me. “Young Hintal,” he rasped, drawing out the greeting so he could look behind me for Souls or my father’s guards, no doubt. He was still just as unkempt as I remembered: long, shaggy hair, skin as rough as his voice, and poorly tended, yellowed nails. He did seem a bit cleaner, I supposed. Maybe he had dunked himself in the clear water sometime recently. “What brings you my way, lad? Can’t say I expected the visit, not all the way down here.”

I could feel Esmi distantly, north by northwest, which meant we were probably on the outer islands of Charbond, what some called the Salt Tears. And the Twins had brought me here in an instant. Incredible. 

There were some empty chairs near Griff’s, so I took a seat, scooping up the drink that rested on the sand beside him. It was carved out of a coconut, so I knew what taste to expect when I had a drink. The burn at the end was more than pleasing, so I took a second, longer swallow, savoring the sweetness and the bite. A forgotten part of me remembered how offputting I had once found Griff’s distressing lack of hygiene, but after having lived in my old filth for weeks, us sharing a cup was of no great consequence. 

“Keeping me waiting. Aye, I suppose that’s your due after how we parted,” Griff allowed. When I put the coconut back and stared out at the waves, he said, “You seem different, lad. More like that deck of yours you first showed me.”

I heard him but was listening more within. I waited for the anger to rise up in me, the righteous fury to swell and spark at how this man had betrayed my trust. However, sitting there beside my old mentor, it turned out that what I felt was more hurt than rage, and who I was now had little room for such a self-pitying sentiment. So, instead of striking him across the jaw, I told him about the Apotheosis, the Primarch, all of it, or as much as I could in a short span since I had no idea how long this trip of mine would last. 

He blew out a long whistle when I was done. “Now that’s a story for the ages, lad. And you mixed up in the center of it to boot. Who’d have thought Treledyne would get so interesting after I left?”

“The Twins even crafted me this,” I said, handing over the Mythic. I didn’t worry he’d try to take it; if he did, I’d merely take it back.

Like the best times we had shared, his eyes lit up as he looked the card over. “Well, ain’t that a thing of beauty.”  

I turned, and sure enough the flash of green had caught the attention of some by the bar. A steady look from me, combined with me drawing a full hand of cards, had them all quickly going back about their business.  

“Plenty of power to be sure, but this blade would have only been a pinprick against that demon lord of yours,” Griff said as he returned the card to me.  

Of course he spotted the discrepancy. “It was to beat Esmi,” I admitted. “To make sure that she didn’t face the Primarch if Hull lost. And I didn’t even get to draw it against her,” I added with a mirthless chuckle.  

“Well, that’s one mystery answered,” Griff said leaning back in his chair. “The bigger one is why are you wagging gums with me, lad? You could be dangling in the trees with those elf friends of yours or getting wisdom straight from the cracked lips of the Charbond Council of Five.” He eyed me. “If Griff is at the top of your list, that’s a sad list indeed.”

I waved the comment off. “Save your droll remarks for someone who will actually believe them. Tricking me to escape was no great accomplishment, but Edaine? My father? The Queen and Azure too I’d wager, and at the same time helping me build a deck that did in fact defeat my brother. You are a cunning man who can provide sound advice, even if you’re chasing after your own agenda.”   

Griff gave me his rotten-tooth smile. “Ah, but that’s all the time, lad. I cultivated self-preservation too long to speak any different.”

“I’ll take the bad with the good,” I answered with a shrug. 

He snorted. “Well, then ask, lad, before the Twins scoop you back up or do whatever they’ve got planned.”

Should I be Treledyne’s next king? That was the question that sat in my mind, but the upcoming duel between Hull and I would settle that, wouldn’t it? “You asked me once if I knew what I truly valued. I do now. Finally. What I don’t know is....” – I hesitated, finding it harder to say this than I had expected – “who I will be when this is all over. A dispassionate killer, the tender-hearted fool I once was, or the mix of both Esmi has been able to uncover?”   

“Who says it’s one or the other?” Griff countered. “Every man has sides, my boy. No shame in that.”

I gave him a look that I’m sure was easy to read after his comment about self-preservation. “Even you?”

“Well, most of mine got shaved away over the years,” he admitted. “But aye, I still have two or three left if I’m taking the time to count.”

“Like Stephi,” I guessed.

“Aye,” he agreed with a laugh. “Always had a soft spot for her. Always will.”  

I stared at him, at the slight cloudiness of his eyes, having given this a lot of thought since we had last spoken. “You have a Soul ability that makes it seem as if you don’t.” The vampire Alexi had something similar, which is why Esmi hadn’t known he was Legendary until the Apotheosis. “And you have an ability that lets you summon her, Stephi, without needing any Source.” The lack of Source was what I had struggled to figure out, but now that I had seen more of the breadth of Soul abilities that existed, it was easy to hypothesize the existence of such a combination. 

Griff laughed, giving a slow clap of his hands. “Right you are, lad.” A woman appeared on the chair behind his. She had similar, disheveled dark hair, and a tilt to her head that was very Griff-like. Then she disappeared in a twinkling cloud of mist. “My sister,” he said. “I had her Soul card fused to my own years ago by an orc mystic.” 

I raised an eyebrow at that revelation, wondering how similar it might be to Esmi and my Twin-joining. 

He took a long sip of his drink. “Feel better now that you know which guesses of yours were right?”

I did in a way. Not so much that I felt the need to gloat about it but there was a sense of contentment that settled on me as I looked out at the sea and its leaping waves.  

“Life’s the same, lad,” Griff said, his raspy words washing over me like the water was the shoreline. “The older you are, the more you get to see when your thinking was on the mark or off center, and the more you get to watch yourself be all the people you’ve ever been, stitched together in a mish-mashed mess. Doesn’t mean you’re less of a man. Fact is, it’s what makes you whole.” 

The Ordered part of me wanted to refute such a blatantly Chaotic statement, but the rest of me took it in, comparing it to my own thoughts and experience, seeing if there was truth to be found. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to look further than this very interaction. If Griff had tried to steal my Mythic Relic, I wouldn’t have hesitated to hurt him – breaking a leg or an arm – to see my property returned, but at the same time, I had wanted to share the pleasure of a new card with someone I knew would appreciate it. I had been two distinct people in a span of a minute… just as Warrick had hated me one moment and then died for me the very next. I was still looking out at the crashing water as I had these thoughts, at how the waves subsumed themselves, distinct yet connected, and as I did, I was reminded of a memory, not of my own making: a girl looking out at a field of flowers, each their own blossom and yet together forming an interlocking tapestry. A long breath left me as the base of my skull tingled, just below my left ear. 

I stood, feeling so light I thought I might drift away. “It seems I came to the right place after all.” I hadn’t even meant to speak the thought aloud but it left my lips anyway, a whisper on the sea air.  

Griff looked up at me. “If my wise words inspired a revelation, the kindly thing to do would be to share it.”

I chuckled, practically giddy. “Come to Treledyne sometime, and I promise to show you.”

He shook his wrists and ankles meaningfully. “I’ll pass. I don’t fancy a metal wardrobe again.”

“That’s not something you’ll need to concern yourself with,” I told him, and as I did, I felt the Twins power take hold of me. Even so, I was sure Griff heard my last words: “Not when you’ll be friends with the king.”