Part III
True to our plan, Kathryn helped me wrap the body of Crycus, carry it through the subterranean tunnel, build a pyre, and give him the funeral he didn't permit my whole village. In a perfect world, his death would have been slow and painful. His body left to the animals to eat from. Discovery of his body by the wrong people though...that would ruin my plan.
Kathryn, my pseudo-wife, stood beside me. Her arms crossed. Her eyes locked on the jumping orange flames. There was a definite slump to her shoulders, but a peace to her face that I hadn't noticed before. I turned towards her and closed the distance between us.
"What's wrong?" I asked, worried that she was backing out of the plan.
"This is the moment I've dreamt of for as long as I can remember, but I'm not sure what to make of it. Crycus could be a cruel man- he forced himself on me more times than I can count, he would beat me, but he always saw to it that I had food, clothes, an education. In some way, I was grateful to him for taking me out of my old home. At least here I had the opportunity to see things I never even knew existed.
"And once this charade is over we'll either be dead, hunted, or heroes. Either way I won't have a place to return home to," she said, glancing sideways at me.
"I may not, but you do."
"I went willingly just to get out of that small town. If I'd have know it would have been like this..."
"No one said you had to return to your village. Home is where you make it. Travel the world, see the sites you've been told about." She nodded, eyes affixed on the dying flames. Enough of his corpse had burned that no identity remained.
"We'd better get back and get you changed," she said, eyeing the rising sun in the distance. I nodded in agreement and followed her back through the labyrinth of caves. Once inside, she showed me to Crycus' wardrobe.
"What are we going to do about the guard you killed?" she asked, standing beside me, watching me dress. The latter had not gone unnoticed.
"As soon as I'm finished dressing, I'll open the door to my room, and tell the guards that a man broke into your room last night and tried to attack you. You were the one that killed him. I'll say that I was too interested in you to worry about trivial things like a dead body in my castle."
She laughed. "That actually sounds like something he would say."
I turned towards her and smiled. "Is it unusual for a wife to accompany him during the day? You are the only person that I trust here, and I am afraid I am at a disadvantage because I haven't a clue who any of these people are."
"No. It's not. Typically, it is his first wife that does, or the one that has gain his favor most recently."
I finished tying the last sash across my face to hide my appearance and turned towards her. "How do I look?"
"Like the bastard that I'm married to," she said with no sense of humor in her voice. I nodded and slipped Crycus' saber through my belt.
"Let the games begin," I said, walking towards the door, and offering her my arm. "Come my dear, breakfast awaits."