A Facet for the Gem by C. L. Murray Read Free Book Online

quietly as the taste of blood filled his mouth.
    “Nottleforf advised me to leave your army at the gate,” King Fendon fumed. “He said it would be a mistake to allow you inside, that there was something… not to be trusted in your victory. But the people have been terrified for so long under this specter of annihilation that whatever feeble incentive they had to farm, to build, to keep this kingdom from collapsing, vanished when that smoke rose near the blockade. This celebration of theirs is the only thing that gives them the heart to resume work tomorrow. And they know as well as I that you command the army on the field, but each man in its ranks serves me! So I will ask you again”—he panted, shivering slightly from Felkoth’s cemented focus—“what happened between you and the Eaglemasters?”
    Felkoth spoke slowly, his eyes never leaving the king’s. “I have already told you. The men of Veldere betrayed us.”
    “Liar!” the king shouted with a breaking voice. “Valdis sent word before you arrived here, which I and Nottleforf accepted. He said you disgraced them and spoke treason against me!”
    “That is absurd,” Felkoth insisted, losing patience. “Do you not see what is happening? The wizard knows your life is near its end and that the time for my reign has come, so he works now to turn you against me because he wants the kingdom for himself.”
    “Do you deny that you rebuked Valdis for honoring our alliance, which has lasted over nine hundred years? That you turned him away when we needed his army most?”
    “Father, I… we do not need Valdis or his men. We are stronger than they are. We proved that by winning this war without them.”
    “You fool.” Fendon sighed gravely. “This was about unifying both kingdoms in triumph after centuries of hardship. And you spat on our allies so that you could keep all the glory for yourself! But tell me, and let this be the last grief you set on me: Did you truly, in front of Valdis and all the Eaglemasters, name yourself Kordindelf’s king?”
    “Father…” Felkoth persisted. “I confronted the challenge posed to us and left it in ashes behind me. What greater victory could have been achieved to secure the future of our kingdom?”
    “You need worry no longer about the future of my kingdom. I tell you now it shall never be yours.” His expression slowly changed from one of anger to regret, regarding Felkoth as though he were the embodiment of all his life’s failures.
    “When I decided to wed your mother,” the king went on wearily, “all of my counselors strongly advised against it. They said no one could have escaped the clutches of the South in such good health as she had. But, in my youthful ignorance, I was so driven by infatuation that I disregarded their warnings.
    “Then, when you were born shortly thereafter, and as you grew, bearing no resemblance to me whatsoever, they said you were not my son. But, even then, I refused to pay heed to that suspicion, the one that has plagued me in my fading years. And now, as you stand before me, there is nothing of which I am more certain. You are not my son, neither by blood nor in spirit.”
    Felkoth stammered as his prize became more distant. “I… I am your son. I have always been your sole heir.”
    “I have commanded Nottleforf to bring me the Goldshard,” Fendon continued, noticing that Felkoth ceased blinking altogether as the words left his mouth. “I will use it to prolong my life, so that I can lead and protect Korindelf for decades to come.”
    Panic began to grip Felkoth as his delicately cultivated goal came closer to being thwarted. “You cannot do this, Father,” he pleaded.
    “You will never be king, Felkoth. I know that is the only end you have ever sought, and I know the horrors that Korindelf and all other lands would continue to face if you were to rule. And that is why it must never be.”
    “But Father”— Felkoth searched for any saving words—“all I’ve