Two Cats

Chapter 8

“Bully,” Theodore smirked, beads of sweat standing out on his brow. “That poor, poor kid.”

“Trust me, the vile little prig deserves worse, what with the stuff he said about me. Even a kid like him should have known better.” I took off the fencing mask, quickly moving to wipe my sopping forehead with my left arm...

Bam. Ow.

I remembered too late that I was still holding my tonfa in that hand, a tough wooden baton that looked like the letter ‘t’ cut in half. I hate forgetting things like that, not just because it makes me look absent-minded, but also because ... well, it hurts.

Theo was right there, laughing at me as I began to rub my tender forehead.

“You amaze me sometimes, Vincent. Here we were in the safest room in your keep, wrapped up in practice gear, but I guess that you're just such a sneaky, vicious bastard that you actually waited until your mask was off before mounting a surprise offensive against your forehead. You're your own worst enemy sometimes, I swear.”

“Oh shush,” I chuckled. “I was simply distracted by my own superb storytelling, bringing you up to speed on all that you had missed. By the way, what happened to you last night? I thought you said you'd already received an invite.”

“Ah, yes. Something came up, I'm afraid. It was probably for the best, all things considered ... I don't think I would have had an easy time maintaining an angry scowl, based on your description of the evening.”

“True. Still, this 'something' that came up wouldn't have been a woman, perchance? A dalliance that went on for a little longer than you expected?”

“Vincent,” said Theo with the barest trace of indignation, “not everything that holds sway over my day to day activities must possess cleavage, you know. I have a large keep – one over three times the size of your own – and my own territorial dealings to handle. I'm a busy, busy man!”

“Very well, I apologize for assuming it was a girl,” I said contritely. “What was her name?”

“Wynnifer,” he sighed, ghost of a smile on his face. “Ah, but you should have seen her. Gorgeous length of red hair, eyes so green I thought I was swimming in the ocean. Ah, me. You really should come out in disguise with me one of these nights, wigs and all that. Sometimes it's nice to just let loose and pretend to be someone else, forget your troubles for a while.”

“Pass,” I said, tossing down the remainder of my shoulder gear and beginning to unbuckle the chest-piece I was sweating uncomfortably in. “I'm sure it's fun, all that, but I'll leave it to you and your knights. No doubt someone would recognize me out with the Haundsing boys, neh?” I pointed at the bridge of my nose to emphasize the point.

“Bah! We'll dress you up in a knight's outfit, tell everyone you got those scars from being hit in the face by a torch-wielding brigand who was trying to run off with a baby, whom you saved heroically. The ladies will fawn over you for hours with a story like that, even if ... yeah, yeah,” he said, noticing my look. “You're too busy with other stuff, and I keep forgetting that you have this unexplainable aversion to fun.”

“We going to go down this vole-tunnel again? We've talked about it before.”

“Vince, there's no good reason why you can't have a relationship with someone, or connect with someone in a way that doesn't involve you being a Lord, or they your tenant. I mean, gods, man! Do you have any company aside from me who comes to the keep? Someone not here on business? Anyone at all?”

“It's not quite that simple. I can't just go and-”

“And I'll be taking that as a 'No'. You work yourself to the bone, trying to do everything yourself. You never have any fun, Vince! You have to learn to let go a bit, delegate. How many people besides me can you say you even trust?”