-Ties that Bind--Ties that Break-
The Secret of Brotherly Love
The stuttering torchlight cast haunting shadows down the length of the storeroom. This place hadn't originally been designed as a storage space the room was in the shape of a small barrel vault with ribbed cross beams in the ceiling and a small semi-circular apse at one end. A stack of barrels and crates littered the center of the chamber but the niches in the wall around the perimeter stood empty. He suspected they had probably contained statues but those had been removed or destroyed long ago.
There weren't many places in this castle where one felt free to be alone with his thoughts but this was his. If anyone were to enter the room they could come and go and never notice the lean figure resting his back idly against the stone column biting his nails. It was a disgusting habit; his mother had always said so. The captain had tried to stop many times over the years but self-discipline was never one of his strong suits. All who wore the blood-red tunic knew the penalties for disobedience. The illustrious Cardinal was not above reminding his hounds he was the one who held the leash. Still he was not opposed to the notion that others who did not respect his beasts occasionally got bit. Red-guards were expected to have a certain edge of ferocity. Pity those who were soft.
Bernard had never considered himself soft…inept sometimes, but not soft. Though he did not bear the tattoo marking him a true member of the dark-order, he had worn the black cowl and mask often enough while doing their dirty-work. He knew many of their secrets…He'd helped bury the bodies, for darkness sake. "How could they do this!" Bernard fumed. He pushed himself away from the sandstone column and he kicked one of the crates then threw himself into one on the niches drawing his knees up to his chin. Like sand in an hourglass a thin trickle of grain fell from the cracked wood to pile on the floor. At least the mice would be happy tonight.
The captain pulled at his short cropped hair. "What am I to do?" Tears sparked in the corner his dark eyes and he rubbed them away with his sleeve, wiping his nose while he was at it. "Lydia is my little sister; I can't just let the Order have her." Bernard couldn't help but wonder how different his life would have been if the Musketeer had not turned him away, forcing him to go to the Guards all those years ago. As annoying and self-righteous as Musketeers were they protect their own. If he had been one of them there might even be some who would go against the order itself to mount a rescue party-They'd done it for Jacques after all. But he wasn't one of them and he had no one to turn to for help.
Then again…Why not? The musketeer's didn't have to know it was his sister they were rescuing…They didn't have to know anything about him at all. He could just arrange for them to get their hands on certain information, maybe make it easier for them to succeed. If he was caught the master would kill him, or worse, for the betrayal…but as he saw it, the Order betrayed him first. Time and again they had him compromise his honor, his reputation, his sense of decency…and he had done it. But one had to draw the line somewhere; he would NOT betray his family. That was the only thing he had left. If he let the dark ones have her, Bernard knew he would be forfeiting the last scrap of his soul; And to do that he might as well be dead.
Chapter Two