I kept walking, and I didn't pay attention to him. At that moment all I wanted was to get some sleep. That interrogation made my brain work harder than usual and I was really disappointed not to have been able to use my persuasiveness much more.
- Alec?
Keilan's voice called me and I stopped to face him. He was hurrying towards me with a serious face. I turned my eyes because I didn't feel like answering any questions.
- Oh, yeah?
- Will you let him live?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Why is that? - he asked. - Hasn't he said enough for us to start an attack?
- I won't attack Edinburgh yet.
- But, uh...
Without patience, I turned towards him.
- Keilan, Oliver knows how to get to that passage. I want him alive so I can take a group there. - I answered dry. - First we have to position the men and review the strategies to invade the fortress.
Keilan looked at me for a while and then nodded.
- Anything else? - I asked with disdain.
- Yeah. - He answered right away. - Who's Morvan?
- That's personal! - I answered dry and walked back towards my tent.
- Where did you learn to do that? - he continued. In front of me, Keilan made me face it.
- I don't know what you're talking about! - but Keilan held me back, stopping me from walking. - Look, I know we've been friends since we were kids and you're older than me, but if you keep touching me, I'll lose my patience and diplomacy.
- That's what I'm talking about! - he fired. - You've always been a calm boy and incapable of torturing anyone. The man I saw in that tent looked like someone else. How did you learn to do that? Not even Bruce would be so cold.
I took him seriously and looked at him coldly.
- That's my business! - I answered and walked again.
- Alec? What are you hiding from me?
I stopped laughing, and then I looked over my shoulder.
- I'm not hiding anything, Keilan, just omitting something I don't want you to know. - I stared at him for a moment. - Instead, I would worry about my problems instead of trying to criticize someone's morale.
Keilan hesitated a little.
- What do you mean by that?
- Why do you protect Bree so much? - I asked. - And don't tell me it's because you found her on the side of the road and felt sorry for the poor girl who was abandoned by her father, because she didn't stick.
- I'd like it to be a little clearer.
- Since when did you get so dumb? - I fired.
- Clearer, Alec!
- How long have you known her?
- Two years, almost three. Why is that?
- And you trained her to be as skillful as she is.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I had a laugh.
- Don't ask me how I know, but everything she knows about fighting didn't come from you. - I fired. - This girl has been trained a lot longer than she looks.
Keilan kept staring at me, but before he said anything, I walked away.
- When you decide to tell your secrets, maybe I'll tell mine too.
Leaving Keilan with a confused face and his mind working, I headed towards my tent. I needed a night's sleep. I had been on a journey of almost three months to get to Edinburgh. He also needed to send a letter to Alistair telling him what he had discovered. I'd ask him to keep an eye on Ravenna too. When I arrived at the place, I looked towards Bree's tent and taking a deep breath I decided to see how it was.
- Not that one! - I whispered as I walked into the tent and saw that my bed was empty. - How did that plague break free?
Making a face, I turned around and went to my tent. I could already imagine where Bree had gone, and I certainly wouldn't want to go to that tavern tonight. Entering the tent I went to where my sword was and picked it up from the hem. I sat on the bed and watched the blue jewel hanging from the handle. It was a family heirloom. A gift that our grandfather had forged and when we were old enough to hold it, Alistair and I got it. He said that we were brothers in soul and that we have the necessary balance to reign over the clans. Alistair with his impetuosity and I with my calm. The problem is that, with time, Alistair and I acquired something as a defect: the impulse. We began to move thoughtlessly after the death of our sister. He heading towards the battles that culminated in the siege of Roy and I learning, in practice, how to scare people just with my gaze. I am not proud of the choice I made and I know that my brother will judge me energetically, but it was necessary to follow that path.
Shaking my head, I put the sword under the pillow and pulled the tunic by throwing it on the floor. I hated dressing in black, but I learned from Bruce that it made us invisible if we knew how to hide. Contemplating the abdomen, I passed my hand over the coarse scar that adorned one side of my waist. I leaned back on the pillows with one hand over my eyes and the other over my chest. As
