C13 Chapter 13
”Oh, I'm sorry about your headache,” she said. ”That must be horrible. Do you know what helps with a headache?”
Brenn said nothing, waiting for another blow.
”Ask Denzin,” she said.
Brenn left the room and slammed the door behind him, and sound pounded against his head. He went to the bar.
”Nest, do you have any more of that orange drink?” he asked as he descended the stairs.
Three men in military uniform stood at the counter. Brenn froze when he saw them, and they looked back at him. All three placed their hands on their swords. Behind the bar, Nest wore a worried look.
One soldier spoke. ”Did you witness the terrorist attack?”
Brenn waited a moment before answering and gave Nest a questioning look. ”Yes. Why?”
”Did you help others to safety?”
Brenn's eyebrows came together in confusion. ”I did what I could. What's this about?”
The soldiers stepped toward him. Brenn's sword was upstairs with his pack.
”By order of Zhen Bo the Fourth, chancellor of the Commonwealth of Meijo Guenzi, you are to come with us immediately.”
”Where are you taking me?”
”His excellency has requested your presence.”
”How long will I be gone?”
”Not long, I'm sure. You don't need to bring anything. Please.” The soldier extended an arm to the door, and they followed Brenn outside.
A closed carriage sat in the road, hitched with two horses. One soldier opened the door for Brenn. The four of them climbed in, the driver snapped the reins, and the carriage drove through Goryeo.
”Is it true about the lynchings?” Brenn asked. He looked out the window and saw that on every city block, there was a man or woman tied to a lamppost, bloody with broken faces and tattered clothes. Some of them were charred beyond recognition. Heat rose to Brenn's neck and face.
”Don't trouble yourself with it,” said a soldier. He was younger than Brenn. ”The Commonwealth's soldiers are taking care of it.”
”When?”
The soldiers didn't answer. One of them pulled the curtains on the windows closed.
”So, what does Bo want with me?” Brenn asked.
”You will address him with respect or not at all. Chancellor Zhen, or Your excellency.”
”Right.”
The carriage continued through the city. Strange things were yelled outside, but the soldiers wouldn't let Brenn look out the windows. A man cursed another man for being a sackhead, the other man said he wasn't even Soduqir, but his grandparents emigrated from northern Lesh Kalae on the border of the Oyer, and that's where his faith is, with the gods of the Oyer, but the carriage rolled on, and Brenn heard nothing more of the discussion.
A woman yelled at someone for her baby, and the reply came from a man who said she would see her daughter once the Commonwealth had verified her citizenship, and the carriage rolled on.
Someone threw something at the carriage. It sounded like a rock. There was a bow-string twang from the driver's seat, and someone outside fell over with a thud.
It was more than an hour before the carriage stopped, and the soldiers stepped out with Brenn. His head was still full of hornets, the sun was made of hammers, and his stomach was filled with vomit that hadn't come up yet. He bent over, putting his hands on his knees.
A soldier asked, ”Are you all right?”
”Yeah. Just sick and tired.”
”Follow me.”
Brenn stood up straight and saw for the first time the Red Palace with its steep walls and skyscraping towers, all painted in shades of red and black. On every wall hung the banner of the Zhen family and the flag of Methyo Genlas, though the words printed on the flag read Meijo Guenzi, the native name for the country. The soldier led Brenn to a door on the east side of a large yard in front of the palace. He unlocked the door and ushered Brenn inside.
They stepped into a small foyer with scarlet padded chairs and two wooden tables. A man sat at one table with a glass of clear bubbling liquid. He looked up when they entered.
”Gods below us, you have been through it, haven't you?” The man was finely dressed, his voice soft and feminine.
”Through what?” Brenn asked, looking down at the small Jonguan.
”Life, I suppose. Well, come on. You cannot approach his excellency in this state.”
The man led Brenn through another door, red like the others, and the room on the other side was enormous and oval. The room was built around a large tub, sunken into the floor, and beside it was a fire boiling a large cauldron of water. Five servants stood in the room, and as soon as Brenn entered, one of the servant men jogged up to him and measured him with a length of knotted twine.
”What's happening here?” Brenn asked as the tailor measured his waist. ”Will someone tell me why the chancellor wants to see me?”
The feminine chamberlain said, ”You'll find out when his excellency tells you himself. Now please, undress and into the bath.”
”No way I'm doing that.”
”There's nothing you have that we all haven't seen before.” The man's mouth turned up slightly at the corners, and his eyes darted to Brenn's chest for half a second.
”May I bathe alone?” Brenn asked gruffly.
”You need to be groomed properly, and we are under a strict time constraint. Now please, I would hate to ask Captain Wu to undress you by force.”
The soldier who had accompanied Brenn said, ”That would be unpleasant for all of us.” The chamberlain said something under his breath in response, but Brenn didn't catch it.
Brenn scowled at the chamberlain and removed his shirt and pants, then walked into the bath and waited for the servants to pour the water in before taking his shorts off. The water was almost too hot to stay in, but he wouldn't get out in his current state.
A young girl attended him and washed his filthy hair. She gave him a cake of yellow soap and a coarse brush. Brenn scrubbed himself while the girl oiled his hair and combed it back, then took a pair of scissors and cleaned the ends around his ears and neck.
”Please don't cut it too short,” Brenn said. The girl said nothing.
She shaved him next even though he protested, and in a few minutes, he was clean all over. He would have felt right if the chamberlain hadn't watched with relish for the entire ordeal.
During Brenn's bath, the tailor placed a pre-made outfit on a model and used scissors and a needle and thread to make adjustments. He finished the clothes just as the bath and shave were finished.
The girl gave Brenn a towel, and he wrapped it around his waist as he climbed out of the tub.
”Get dressed, please.” The chamberlain gestured to the freshly tailored shirt and trousers, both red, trimmed in black, and bearing a small Methyo Genlas flag on the left breast.
Brenn glared at the man and dropped his towel, then pulled on his clothes as fast as he could. The chamberlain smiled.
”My, my, but doesn't that fit well in all the right places?”
”I'd really love it if you never spoke to me again.” Brenn fastened the brass button on his pants.
The chamberlain's smile turned into a frown. Brenn buttoned his shirt up to the second button. It was a little tight in the throat.
”Follow,” said the chamberlain.
Brenn followed the man through another red door and through a series of bright hallways. Nobles, counselors, and royal family members stood scattered about the place, or sat in more cushioned chairs, speaking in idle tones with their hands in their coat pockets or on gilded canes, or crossed behind them. They looked at Brenn as he passed, staring at his size and the look of hatred on his face. Stained glass windows let in light throughout the palace, lining the walls so that there was more glass than brick, and colorful light pierced Brenn's brain. He rubbed his eyes and temples.
”You all right?” Captain Wu asked. He didn't look at Brenn when he spoke, walking with his left hand on the pommel of his sword. Brenn felt where his own sword should have been but wasn't.
”Long night,” he said.
”I'm sure this will be quick. You're the fourth we've brought in. All the others took only a few minutes.”
”Can you tell me what it's about?”
Captain Wu didn't answer because they had come to a broad set of double doors, and the captain opened the door for Brenn and the chamberlain. Wu stayed behind and closed the door behind Brenn.
The room was large and open, filled with bookcases and comfortable chairs, a fireplace, and a large desk in the center covered with papers and oil lamps that sat cold and unlit in the daytime. Sitting behind the desk was a man in his sixties with grey, balding hair, a slouching neck, and a beak-like nose.
The chamberlain spoke in his high, soft voice and flourished his arms. ”Your excellency, another Northerling.”
Zhen Bo, chancellor of the commonwealth of Methyo Genlas, hardly looked up when the chamberlain spoke. He was writing something, scribbling quickly.
”Come,” he said.
The chamberlain nodded at Brenn, and he approached the desk. He stopped a yard away and stood with one hand in a trouser pocket. The other hand rubbed his temples.
”Do you know why you're here?” the chancellor asked.
”I have no idea.”
He looked up at Brenn, who added in haste: ”Your excellency.”
The chancellor continued. ”My men have been searching high and low, all over Goryeo, for a man of your description. Would you have any idea why?”
”No, sir.”
”What do you think of the attack, Northerling?”
”Terrible, obviously, sir.”
”Did you witness it, firsthand?”
”I got my share of the view, sir.”
”I don't suppose you saw a man about your height and build, with blond hair, carrying several people out of the wreckage to safety, did you?”
Brenn looked aside for a moment and tilted his head. ”I, uh...I don't...I don't recall.”
”That's who I'm looking for, you see. My cousin, Lady Ning, was one of the survivors who was rescued by this man. Several others in the hospitals have also claimed to be carried from danger by a Northerling. I'm trying to find him so I can commend him. Perhaps you know who it could be. Are you traveling alone? Do you have any Northerling companions with you? It would mean the world to my cousin—and to me—to have him knighted.”
Brenn almost laughed, but stopped short and merely made a wide smile. ”Oh, yes, sir, that is, well, I am him.”
”Truly?” The chancellor smiled and stood from his chair, then crossed the room to a small red door. He opened it and said, ”Ning, please come in.”
A tall woman dressed in regal attire with her black hair in a tall bun on her head entered, saw Brenn and beamed.
”Do you recognize this man?” the chancellor asked.
”Oh, yes, Bo. This is him.” She almost jogged to Brenn, then took one of his hands in both of her own. ”I owe you my life. I cannot thank you enough.”
”My lady, you owe me nothing,” said Brenn, but he allowed her to hold his hand to be polite. Now that he saw her, he thought he recognized the small beauty mark beneath her right eye. It was apparent the other eye was black, and there were perhaps more bruises on her face, but she concealed all her injuries behind a thick layer of makeup.
”What is your name, young man?” Lady Ning asked, smiling up at him.
”Brenn Ragnir, Lady.”
”Well, there you have it,” said the chancellor, stepping forward to place a hand on Brenn's and Ning's shoulders. ”You have my gratitude as well, Brenn Ragnir. Now, what will you take as a reward?”
”I couldn't ask for anything, sir.”
