The Bounty Hunter

Chapter Forty One

He was met by numerous shocked gazes, all staring incredulously at him as they tried to collect their thoughts. “That killer is the reason you’re sitting here and not cowering in a distant house while Lassirus wreaks havoc,” another lord replied disapprovingly.

“But the law-!”

“Perhaps it’s time for a new law,” he suggested. “After all, who are we to enforce the law if we can’t apply it equally to everyone? I refuse to apply the law to her and I doubt I’m the only one. Sticking stubbornly to the law has caused us more problems than we’d care to admit.” The table subsided into mutters as the two advisers eyed each other and, as the people ranged around the table frowned, the first one admitted defeat.

The next day, however, she reappeared and took a place at the enormous table, determined to learn as much as she could. She desperately needed to take her mind off the things she had experienced recently and detested wallowing alone in her room; apart from go for long walks in the grounds and the city, the only thing she could do was join the council and so that’s what she did. They were so busy that they didn’t notice Finred seemed to have vanished until they sent Favia to talk to him about being crowned and filling the power vacuum that the King and Queen’s disappearance had caused. Although none of them had managed to find any evidence as to their whereabouts they had been forced to assume that they hadn't survived; they had tried to keep it hidden from the inhabitants of the city but everyone knew that they would have to share the secret sometime.

“Do you have any idea where he is?” she hissed as she cornered Safita.

“No,” she replied. “Honestly if I have to chase him down again I am going to… I haven’t seen him in days.”

“Me neither,” she said. “Oh god if he’s been kidnapped by someone who’s trying to take advantage of this I will…”

Safita paled as she began to panic as much as Favia was. “Do you really think that that’s likely?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine where else he would have gone. Oh god he really is an idiot. They’re a family of big hearted idiots and when I find him I am going to wring his neck and kill him slowly and painfully for doing this to me.”

She grabbed Favia and stopped her from pacing, telling her to breathe slowly as she explained what they were going to do. “We’re not going to panic,” she said, “and we won’t tell anyone. Who knows about this?”

“Just you at the moment. I thought you might have seen him.”

“Right well we’ll tell Ravina, Hergun and Nell and that’s it.”

“Should we tell Maeven? After all she’s out in the city now so she might have seen something.”

Safita paused and considered it for a moment before shrugging. “We’ll tell her if the others think it will help. So once we’ve spoken to them we’re going to search the palace and the grounds and if we haven’t found him by then we will think of what else to do.”

“Right,” Favia agreed, “and if we do find him then I’m going to murder him.” Safita rolled her eyes and let out a small giggle before steering her down the corridor. “They’re down here having lunch as they work on something.”

The three of them jumped to their feet as soon as they heard what had happened and immediately began dividing the palace up between the five of them before spreading out and scouring every corner. Evening was creeping in before Favia peered under the overhanging branches of an enormous tree in the grounds, a tree which used to be their base as children, and saw a figure curled up against the trunk. “Finred?” she called. The figure didn’t lift its head and she moved closer to it before sitting beside it on the ground. “We were worried about you.”

“You shouldn’t be,” he mumbled as she slapped his arm. “Well we were! We still don’t know if it’s safe here… You could have been kidnapped for all we knew.”

“I just needed to be alone.”

“Why couldn’t you be alone in your room?” He lifted his head up and eyed her wordlessly. “You never used to come here to think,” she sighed. “It used to be the crack in the trunk of the willow by the pond… I checked there first… Someone’s taken the cushions out of it. I suppose they were ruined… It’s been years since we last went there… I’d almost forgotten about it.”

“My parents are dead.”

Favia shut her eyes and a lone tear trickled down her cheek as she thought of the King and Queen. “I’m sorry Finred,” she muttered. “I wish it wasn’t true.”

“Well it is,” he said coldly, clenching his fists as he burnt with anger.

“How do you know for certain?” she asked. “We couldn’t find…”

“I can feel it. I’m surprised Lassirus didn’t put them on show for everyone to see.” Favia noted that he didn’t sound particularly surprised - he sounded furious. “Perhaps he was worried that doing so would cause the people to rise up against him; your parents were very well-loved,” she suggested as Finred shrugged, tensing his shoulders as he tried to contain his grief and fury. She reached up and rubbed her hands along them, trying to calm him down. “You still have me,” she whispered, “and you have Safita and your other friends. I know it’s not the same but-”

“You’re right it’s not the same,” he hissed as she continued to work her thumbs into his muscles.

“You know what this means Finred,” she sighed as he shook his head resolutely. “I can’t… Not now Favia.”

“I know you can’t and I know you don’t want to but you don’t have much of a choice… We need you to be visible or this could happen again.”

He sighed heavily and shook his head, trying to fight his way out of the duty which he knew he would always bear and the responsibilities he was incapable of shirking. “I never should have come back,” he muttered. “I never should have taken Safita up on her offer of travelling with her and I never should have let myself be captured by Ultuc after I left her… I was an idiot and I lost my only chance of freedom because I let myself be drawn into her web.”

“It’s not that bad here is it?” Favia asked. He turned to face her and frowned at her crestfallen expression. “No of course not,” he reassured her quickly, “there are a lot of things I love about being back here… And I missed you while I was away… I just wish I could live here without the worry of having to rule.”

“You could have just let Lassirus win,” she teased as he cracked a tiny smile. “Get yourself a wife who knows what she’s doing and then you’ll find it much easier. You’ll be an amazing king Finred, don’t let yourself doubt that… It might seem daunting now but you’ll grow used to it.”

He sighed and nodded, running his hands through his already messy hair. “I know, I know. There’s no way I would ever abandon this place… My sojourn into the Outlands was… interesting but I suppose I realised while I was out there that I couldn’t just vanish.”

“So you’ll do it then?” He nodded once, his chin jerking as he did so. Favia smiled at him and took one of his hands in hers, hoping to offer him what little comfort she could. “I should warn you,” she began, “once you’ve been crowned… they’re expecting a wedding.”

“Still?” he exclaimed. “To Varenna?” Favia looked at him and he pursed his lips as he thought what to say next. “Well… it could be worse I suppose. At least we could be friends one day in the future… and it will keep our relationship with Pallia stable.” Favia stood up and offered him her hand, pulling him up too. “She is sweet…” she said eventually before leading him out from under the tree.