I didn't answer his question. Kol was still appraising me as if trying to decide if I was in fact trustworthy to know more about him. He was right; I was desperate to know why he seemed to live two very different lives and kept one of them secret. I thought back to what Bert had said. Kol was coping with something that nearly killed him two years ago. I couldn't imagine what could result in him leading a gang. He still wasn't speaking and I was very aware of how far away we had moved from the crowd of people watching the show. It had not seemed so far before, but now it seemed a vast expanse. No one was paying any attention to us and our conversation.
"Bert told me about you," I tried, forcing my voice to sound surer than I felt.
Kol crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow in question. "What did she say?"
"Not much, she was very loyal to you and would barely tell me anything. She said that something happened two years ago that nearly killed you and that you aren't really the leader of a gang. She said something about your father too and how you truly were his son. Whatever you are doing in the lower city is your way of coping with what happened, but I don't understand." I said in a rush.
Kol smiled affectionately at the mention of his friend and then there was a flicker of pain in his eyes when I mentioned the thing that nearly killed him. He tilted his head, his face now completely blank except for tightness in the line of his mouth and the sadness in his eyes. "Is that all she told you? Do you want to know the full story?"
Slowly I nodded. Would he truly divulge the secrets he seems to keep so close to himself?
Kol took a deep breath and lowered his arms. "Understand that you cannot tell anyone about any of this. If word got around to my father then everything would go to waste. It is difficult enough keeping it from him as it is now. I don't need whispers floating around about me pertaining to my status in the lower city. I suppose that you have a right to know now, you have seen enough that I must explain before you make your own conclusions. I would rather you find out directly from me instead of poking around and hearing the tale from other unreliable sources. Come, let us go somewhere more private; one never knows what ears may be listening in."
The tournament was completely shoved from my mind as I followed Kol to a secluded spot under a tree set back from the stands. I could still hear the stomps and the cheering of the people, but none of that mattered at the moment. I felt like I was about to become privy to something big and important.
"Two years ago, no that is not where the story begins," Kol began. He did not look at me, but rather up as the sky as he remembered. "When I was younger, my sister used to take me into the lower city to see the wonderful things that can only be seen there. Bria took me to magic shows, secret restaurants, and abandoned chapels that are now home to some of the most interesting people. Travelers from all around the realm wound up in the lower city and I was introduced to people from as far away as Conan. People always imagine that the lower city is the boring and useless part of Pharyss, but Bria showed me the wonders of it. She had friends in the lower city and I got to meet them too. Her closest friend in the world was one of the men who lived in the lower streets. His name was Matthew. I have never met anyone so clever or brave as he was. I don't know how he and my sister met; they simply were. She loved him and he loved her. He became my best friend and her lover. Oh, the fun we had. At night he would show up at our house and climb the balconies to take us on adventures. My entire youth was spent running the streets of the entire city with Bria and Matthew. Matthew became a brother to me and I loved him as well as any brother I could have had. It was perfect.
"Then my father started getting angry with all the time we spent roaming the city. He said it was bad form that any children of his should be found just wandering the streets. He wanted Bria to marry one of his friends in the army. She had to stop going out with us when we explored the city. Still, we would sneak out occasionally and it was just like old times. Father thought that he had won; Bria was obedient and attended all the functions she was asked to, but she still loved Matthew and they were planning to run away together. Father found out and he was furious. Mother cried that night while father raged at my sister for being so foolish for loving a man from the lower city. He said she needed to give up her romantic fantasies and grow up. They yelled and screamed at each other for hours while I watched from between the stair railing. That was just before my eighteenth annual. For the next year father was so strict on Bria that she could not leave the house except with an escort. I would relay letters between her and Matthew. They still planned to run away together as soon as they found somewhere to live and some way to escape my father.
"It was little over a year later when a letter arrived and it wasn't from Matthew. Someone else delivered it directly to my sister. I will never forget the scream I heard after she read that letter. I was in the parlor at the time while mother and father were out. By the time I got to her room she had destroyed everything there was to destroy. The windows were smashed from their panes and her bed covers were torn away and thrown on the floor. There were holes and scratches in her walls from where she had thrown things. Bria was in the center of the destruction kneeling before the letter she had ripped to pieces. She had cut her arms and hands on the windows when she shattered them, but she hadn't noticed. I hurried to her and inspected her wounds. At the time I did not know what had happened. I asked her, but she could not speak for all the crying. So I just held her while she cried. You cannot imagine how terrified I was. I had never seen anyone like that, let alone my sister. After hours of just holding her she finally managed to tell me what had happened. 'He's dead, Matthew is dead.' She just repeated that over and over. That's how my parents found us when they returned home.
"After that Bria was just empty. She never smiled or ate or did anything. It was like she was barely alive. My father tried to marry her off because he thought that would fix her, but no one wanted her anymore because she was so vacant. Rumors had started to spread about what had happened to Bria Rydell. After hearing rumor after rumor, my father decided the best course of action was to send her away and that's what he did. I haven't seen or heard from her since she got into that carriage. Father said she went to live with distant relatives in Darios. Matthew's death broke her and her leaving was what broke me. I begged father to do something, to go after the men who killed Matthew, but he wouldn't. He said that there wasn't enough evidence to go after every back street murder that happened in the lower city."
Here he stopped and I just stared at him in openmouthed shock. It was all so terrible and I could not imagine what he went through in losing both his sister and his best friend in such a short time. "What did you do?"
"With Bria gone and Matthew dead, I went into a downward spiral. I spent more and more time drinking at taverns. Father was furious but I just didn't care anymore. One night while I was downing any drink I could find, I heard two men mention Matthew. I listened and found out who had killed him. It was a small band of men who seemed to enjoy terrorizing the lower city. After that I became obsessed with finding them. I hunted them down one by one. I won't tell you what I did when I found them. I was so blinded by the pain of losing Bria and Matthew and the hatred I felt towards the men who had killed my best friend that I was cruel and vicious. I earned the nickname Demon in the lower city. Everywhere I went people would whisper and back away and I enjoyed it. It made me feel powerful and in control.
"That's when I met Bert. I had seen her many times at the Scrolldart before but never thought anything of it. Then she came right up to me and started talking. No one did that, I was the Demon. 'I know you,' she said. 'You're the captain's son. What are you doing being a common street bully?' I tried to scare her away with tales of what I had done, but she wouldn't leave me alone. She came to the lower city to escape her family and the prying eyes of the gentry too, you see. Eventually, after weeks of her pestering, I told her what had happened and she listened. No one had cared to listen before. To everyone else, Matthew was just a street rat that didn't deserve to be mourned, but Bert saw how important he was to me and the potential I had for preventing other mindless deaths like his. She introduced me to the Scrolldart's owner. Together we came up with a way to police the lower city where my father would not. It was hard at first, but Argie knew many people from the Scrolldart and news spread. With my wealth, I was able to assemble a small force of men. The men needed to feed their families and needed work to earn money. Then word spread and more men came to join my force. The requirements were simple: keep the people safe from the evils that ran rampant in the lower city.
"Word spread fast and more people came to the Scrolldart looking for me. They came because they wanted to keep their families safe. I had not imagined that in the course of a year my little organization would spread to all corners of the lower city. It all became too much for me and the entire system started falling apart. If it wasn't for Argie, it would have. She came up with ways to organize and regulate the men and women who wanted to help. That's what the tattoos mean. Everyone in the lower town knows that if someone is marked then anything that happens to them will be avenged tenfold. Mine is unique though. While few people know my face, they all know my symbol. I am still called the Demon because my enforcement is swift and they all remember the first men I went after. The man that was caught this morning was another murderer. He killed one of my officers in an attack on me. I deal with such attackers personally. It is not a perfect system, but the lower city is safer because of it.
"That is why I need to marry Paislee. My father owns many luxury businesses in Pharyss from banks to inns to blacksmiths. If my father removes my inheritance of these businesses, I lose the means to fund my lower city operation. Families depend on the money I provide and children would starve if that was taken away. If marriage is the only requirement to ensure the safety of many, then it is a price I will gladly pay. He even chose a date for our wedding. One month after the princess is married, I too shall wed." Kol raised his left hand for me to see. The third finger wore a thick gold band I had not noticed before. "The engagement is official now."
I felt that my world had been tipped. Kol was so selfless and brave to take up the defense of the lower city himself. It was as if I was seeing him for the first time. Paislee probably didn't even know how lucky she was to be marrying him. I hoped that he could grow to love her when they were married; he deserved to be happy. Christian must not have known what Kol had been through and done. If he did, he would offer his support to his old friend.
Well, there you have it - Kol's history. Tell me what you think!