o;Everything about you is a lie,” Roden said. “It always was. Do you know what it was like the next morning in Drylliad? Everywhere I turned, it was celebration and talk of a new day for Carthya, and all for who? You?”
“Yeah, it was for me. I am Jaron. Maybe you don’t like that fact, but nothing you can do will change it.”
“Whatever your name is, you don’t deserve the throne.” Roden’s voice grew louder, sharper. “It was supposed to be given to whoever won in that tunnel. It was supposed to be me!”
“Then give me a sword and we’ll fight again,” I suggested. “If you win, you have me for whatever revenge you want. And if I win, I get what I want.”
“Another sword fight is pointless because I already have you.” Roden’s eyes narrowed. “And I know what you want: You thought by coming here you could somehow stop the pirates from invading Carthya.”
I nodded. “That’s still my intention, by the way.”
“Well, I’m their king now. And you’re out of time to stop me from doing anything. Tonight I’ve ordered a feast in celebration of my becoming king. Afterward, in front of everyone, I’m going to be the one to end your life, to show what happens to anyone who crosses me. I’ll use your death to solidify my reign.”
He hadn’t intended to be funny, but I laughed at him anyway. “I’m very glad you said that. Because until hearing you speak just now, I had thought I was the most ridiculous ruler in these lands.”
Roden raised his hand to strike me again, but this time I would not flinch and he slowly lowered it.
“Let’s go,” he told the pirates with him. “There’s a lot to do before tonight.”
“You can’t leave him like this,” the larger of the pirates said. “You were the one who told us the stories about him.”
“He got out of rope before,” Roden said. “Not chains. He won’t get through these.”
Actually, I would. The pin Imogen had snuck to me was still in my boot. It’d easily pick the lock on these chains.
“But if he did get free, he could climb out that window.”
Roden faced me. “I can’t deny that possibility.”
Neither could I. In fact, that was my plan.
Roden grabbed a club from a pirate in the doorway and walked closer to me. He swung it once in the air, testing its weight. Something turned in my gut, a warning perhaps. But Roden wanted me alive for tonight, so I hoped he only meant to threaten me with it.
“Sorry about this,” Roden said. And as he swung the club back over his shoulder, I saw what he intended.
“Don’t!” I yelled. “Roden, don’t!”
But he did. The club crashed into my lower right leg like I’d been hit with a cannonball. Lightning ripped through every nerve of my body and escaped through my screams. I knew immediately that the bone was broken, though with so much pain, I couldn’t tell how badly.
Held upright only by the manacles, I collapsed to one side and vomited, my head swimming in a dense fog.
“He won’t escape those chains now,” Roden said. “But if he does, he’s not going anywhere.”
I wished I could’ve had some clever response to that, but my world was quickly fading. Reeling from a toxic combination of pain, hunger, and exhaustion, I slumped forward and let the darkness take over.
It was the pain that eventually awoke me. The shock of Roden’s strike had sent me into unconsciousness, but that had gradually evolved into a restless and unproductive sleep. The chains around my wrists were too high on the wall to allow me to sit on the ground, so when I tried to balance on my injured leg and adjust my weight, a bolt of pain tore through me. My eyes flew open and I cried out. When I focused on Erick and Fink, I saw them standing on their end of the room, staring at me in horror.
“How long was I out?” I mumbled. Neither of them responded so I focused directly on Fink. “How long?”
“A couple of hours maybe.”
It wasn’t quite dark yet. From the angle of the sun coming through the window, I guessed there were still another two or three hours until sundown. Not much time.
“How does it feel?” Fink asked.
“Like butterfly kisses, what do you think?” I leaned my head back to stretch out the muscles, but it did little good. My neck had been in one position for so long, it was now angrily protesting my attempts to use it.
“Why did you talk to Roden like that?” Erick asked, clearly still upset with me.