Cowards Illusion

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Chapter 8

“You'd do well to start making your own way Delmir,” Alna stated one evening when they were alone.

Delmir looked up, stung.

“This is my home, my land. Father would not have wanted some stranger to come in and take charge of it,” Demir stated.

“Your father is dead,” Alna stated point blank.

-

Delmir moved Maesha into his own room. He set up a pallet for him, and brought in his few possessions.

“My own mother is trying to push me out,” Delmir told Maesha one evening.

“And where would you go?” Maesha questioned. He didn't ask what would happen to himself.

“No where. This was always supposed to be my land. I cannot just forfeit it,” Delmir told him.

“Things were so simple when father was alive,” he started.

Maesha couldn't help but agree with him. His life was a great deal simpler.

“Father taught me to ride, to fight, and about the politics involved with keeping an estate. Only I've never had any real life experience in any of it. I thought I would have time to learn these things. Not have my ownership threatened from the beginning.”

Delmir sighed.

“She knew this was going to happen. Mother was only biding her time when Vhet was here.”

“It's because she thought she could control you, but you showed her that she couldn't.” Maesha answered.

Delmir hadn't expected an answer, and looked at Maesha with a surprised expression. The boy was a great deal smarted than he led on.

“But she can control Gouron, because his ownership is precarious at best. She's the only thing helping him to keep it.”

-

Maesha had been in his old room, retrieving the last of his books when he heard the door open. He had expected Delmir. That was really the only being that interacted with him nowadays.

“You two have more of a history than anyone lets on,” Gouran spoke.

Maesha turned sharply.

Gouran shut the door.

Instead of the fear Gouran expected, Maesha stood straight.

“Come here,” Gouron told him.

“You are not a master of mine,” Maesha spoke acidly. He was much too tired of men staking claim to him. Vhet had left him raw, and Delmir had at some point stopped treating him like a slave. At least in private.

And here was this man, threatening to break everything back down.

“Things could change very quickly. You had better start picking your alliances better.”

Maesha wanted to leave, but Gouran was blocking the door.

“I think you underestimate him a great deal,” Maesha spoke finally. Delmir was no longer the boy he once was.

Gouran grabbed him, and Maesha lashed out, raking nails down the side of his face. They crashed into the end table, and though Maesha struggled, the man was solid, unmovable bulk boring into him.

“I think you both underestimate me.”

Finally fear set in. Never before had be been held in place when he was truly struggling. He realized that he was never helpless with Delmir. He could have fought. He could have possibly even over powered the youth in his younger years. And never once did he fight Halden. Nor Vhet. He always submitted.

The door swung open, and Gouran's hold loosened marginally. It wasn't enough to break the contact.

“Let him go,” Delmir spoke acidly.

Gouran did. Maesha threw himself away from the man, coming to Delmir.

“Maesha, go to the stables. Tend to my horses,” Delmir ordered.

Maesha looked at Delmir's back as he left. The man was standing tall. And then he saw the door close.

“My mother would not be happy to know you have taken an interest in my slave. It would leave a sour taste in her mouth, I'm sure.”

Gouran stepped closer to him. Delmir held his ground. The man was smiling, almost in amusement.

“What is so funny?” Delmir demanded.

Suddenly Gouran moved, grabbing Delmir and slamming him with a jarring force up against the wall. He wrenched his hand behind his back sharply, and pressed his weight against him to hold him there.

“You have it wrong. It isn't the slave I've taken an interest in, but rather the owner.”

Delmir learned that evening what is was to be forced by a man stronger than he was. The humiliation, the searing pain, and the powerless feeling.

-

When Maesha came in that evening Delmir had retired early, and the room was very quiet. The man's hair was still wet, laid out across his pillow. He was still, and Maesha could tell he wasn't asleep yet.

Maesha walked silently to his pallet and laid down, not even snuffing out the candles. They could burn themselves out this night.

-

When Maesha woke, something had definitely changed. Delmir did not look the same. He was much too in his own head, and his expressions were carefully hidden.

Delmir left the room to go seek out his mother. He encountered Gouran first, sitting smugly at the kitchen table.

“If you're looking for your mother, don't bother. She made it painfully clear that I could make your stay miserable here,” Gouran spoke.

“You're lying.”

“Your mother did not love your father. He was a hopeless coward.”

Delmir glared at him.

Gouran got up from the table and came at the slighter man. Delmir couldn't help it. He flung himself away, putting the table between himself and this brute of a man.

“I will tell you one thing. I'm not leaving. You can run to your mother and tell her what I did. She won't believe you. She thinks you're a sniveling, spoiled brat. She said you needed a man to show you the way of the world, since your father never did.”

Maesha walked in and broke the stalemate.

“Get dressed, pack your things. We leave today,” Delmir stated.

Maesha couldn't wrap his head around the words.

“You heard me.”

“That's it. Run,” Delmir heard Gouran speak as he left the room.

-

Nervously Maesha packed what little was important to him. It only consisted of a few pieces of clothing and a few books. He left anything else he was willing to part with, after all he had no idea where he was going.

He brought his things to the stable as directed and readied Delmir's two finest horses, as per Delmir's orders.

He stood outside with them both. One was a dappled gray that Delmir had since youth, the other was a tall black gelding.

Delmir soon showed, tying a small satchel to the black.

“Tie your things to the gray,” he instructed.

“Where am I going?” Maesha finally had the nerve to question.

“Both of us are leaving.”

Delmir had expected his mother to see him off. Instead it was the last person in the world he wanted to see.

Delmir challenged his expression.

“I do hope you can ride,” Gouran spoke snidely.

Maesha had never seen Delmir act so fast. He made it to the man in one stride, and with his right hand, backhanded the taller man across the face, hard.

Gouran stood there blinking.

Delmir then turned and mounted his horse. He said nothing. Let the man think he was forfeiting.

“Mount and come on Maesha.”

Maesha fumbled into the saddle clumsily and followed his master. As he sat, he realized something. This was the same horse Delmir had used to try and run away with him.

“Come on Maesha, trust me.” Delmir spoke soft enough that Maesha wasn't sure he heard it at all.

AN

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