Her Father's Rapier

“Not even the dogs would eat this,” Sinnos complained, waving a sausage in the butcher’s face. “And on top of that you want to charge me double.”

Laghai stood motionless behind him, and the butcher kept throwing nervous glances at him over Sinnos’s shoulder.

At that hour, the usual fog still clung to the village rooftops. The rain had stopped during the night and the cobblestones still gleamed. The merchants were laying out their wares on tables that were still dripping, and their hoarse voices faded among the uneven stone streets.

A few stalls down, Kaleb was praising the eyes of an old woman who owned carts while haggling over the price of one. Pancracio had stayed at the manor with Ireena, helping her pack.

Alexis wandered the stalls alone. The vendors sized her up with that mix of interest and distrust they reserved for armed strangers. A little girl with a dirty face offered her wrinkled apples from a wicker basket. Alexis bought one and smiled at her.

She had already spotted Ismark twice among the stalls, always a few steps behind, pretending to be interested in anything at all. The third time, he made up his mind to approach, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Lady Alexis,” he said, stopping a few steps away from her. “About last night… I wanted to apologize for my sister. I know what she said was out of line. We’re going through a difficult time, but even so…”

Alexis turned to face him.

“Ismark, your sister isn’t a child. If she wants to apologize to me, she can do it herself.”

Ismark ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m responsible for her now,” he faltered. “I have to make sure everything’s all right.”

“Protecting her from danger is one thing,” said Alexis. “Speaking for her is something else entirely.”

They stopped beside a cloth stall.

“Does she at least want to go to Krezk?”

“It’s what’s best for her,” Ismark answered without hesitation. “And it’s not forever. I just need her to be safe until things calm down around here. Then I’ll go get her myself.”

“That’s not what I asked you.”

Ismark sighed.

“Ireena isn’t like you. She couldn’t…”

“And how would you know, if you won’t even let her try?”

They walked a few steps in silence. The smell of woodsmoke and damp seemed to seep into every corner of the village.

“Ireena is all I have,” he murmured at last. “If anything happened to her, I…”

“She’ll be fine,” said Alexis, meeting his eyes. “But you have to trust her too.”

Ismark paused, thinking it over.

“I’ve never met anyone like you.”

All at once Alexis felt heat flood her face and looked away. Ismark smiled.

“Would you have a drink with me tonight? I’d like to… get to know you better.”

Alexis took her time answering.

“Maybe,” she said at last.

---

The room still held the disorder of the past few hours: clothes strewn over a chair, two empty bottles on the table, the faint smell of spilled wine mingling with that of burned-down candles.

Ismark was sound asleep, one arm still around her. His breathing was slow, and his face had a calm Alexis hadn’t seen on it before. Without the worries of the day, he looked younger.

Moving slowly, she slipped out of his embrace. Ismark mumbled something unintelligible and settled against the empty pillow without waking. Alexis gathered her things from the floor.

The floorboards barely creaked under her feet. On her way out, she saw a guard posted at the end of the hallway, who greeted her with a silent nod.

The corridors lay in half-darkness, lit only by a few oil lamps that made the shadows tremble on the walls. Outside Ireena’s room, another guard was making his rounds.

In the entrance hall, the group was asleep where the maids had made up their beds. Kaleb was snoring theatrically, Sinnos was muttering something about “those damned loaded dice,” Pancracio had one arm dangling off the armchair after losing a battle with gravity, and Laghai rested by the window, so still he seemed part of the shadows. He opened his eyes when she came in, but said nothing.

Alexis settled into an empty corner, closed her eyes and pretended to sleep until morning came.

---

In the first gray hours, the fog still wrapped the manor gardens. The group was finishing loading the supplies onto the cart Kaleb had found. Ismark appeared with a maid carrying a small carved wooden box and something wrapped in red velvet.

“The rest when you reach Krezk,” he said, handing the box to Sinnos, who examined it with a speculative smile before making it disappear into his clothes.

When everything was ready to go, Ismark said goodbye to each of them. When he reached Alexis, he seemed unsure whether to hug her. Instead, he took her hand awkwardly and held it longer than necessary. Alexis felt the group’s eyes boring into the back of her neck.

Ismark let go of Alexis’s hand and cleared his throat. When he turned around, he found Ireena frowning at him.

He signaled to the maid, took the velvet bundle and walked over to his sister. He unwrapped it in front of her: an elegant, old rapier, with delicate engravings on the hilt that glinted faintly in the gloom.

“It was our father’s,” he said, his voice deeper than usual. “Things might get dangerous, and I want you to have it.”

Ireena held the weapon with reverence, but her hands were shaking.

“Are you sure about all this, Ismark?” she asked quietly.

He leaned toward her.

“This will be over soon, I promise.”

Ireena nodded. Her eyes were glassy, but her chin was steady.

“All right.”

Ismark hugged her tight and kissed her forehead. Then he turned to the group.

“I’m counting on you.”

“You can be sure of it,” Pancracio replied with a courteous bow. “We thank you for your trust.”

They climbed into the cart. Alexis hesitated for a moment, but ended up sitting next to Ireena, who glanced at her sideways and then looked back over her shoulder for her brother.

Laghai sighed.

“It’s going to be a long trip.”

“Oh, come on! It’s going to be fun!” Kaleb exclaimed. “New towns, new faces…”

Alexis silently watched Ireena clutch her father’s rapier to her chest, still looking back.

Sinnos took the reins and the horses set off. The cart pulled away from the manor with a steady rattle, and the fog swallowed the sound of hooves on the wet cobblestones. The village blurred behind them until it was nothing but a gray smudge.