Defiance Ch. 12

"Sir?" He said, trying to gain the other mans attention. The cook turned to him and snarled nastily. His eyes raked over Tate as he leaned back against a large tabletop. "Could I have a moment of your time?"

"The prince need something?" He asked, obviously thinking that Tate was there on some errand for the Christian.

"His lunch, however I wanted to speak to you regarding Rose."

"Who?" He grunted. Tate gestured towards the little girl. "Oh yeah, I forgot the little disease carrier belonged to you. You've got a think for filthy tinkers don't you boy?"

Tate smirked at him. "You don't the half of it."

"You really are a whore aren't you?" he snarled.

Tate shrugged. Frankly the gravity of the many names thrown at him were beginning to lose their effect. "I'd appreciate it if you would refrain from touching her again."

"Such fine manners." He jeered. "I'll tell you what whore, come into the pantry with me and show me just why Christian keeps you around and perhaps I'll do as you ask."

Tate smiled at him. In one smooth motion he reached out and caught a large butcher knife from the block at his elbow. He pressed the blade firmly against the kitchen master's fat neck. "You may call me whore, servant, but I'm still the son of a baron and have I all of the training due to a man of my station. Touch the child again and I'll do more than threaten you with a knife. Do you understand me?"

The big man spluttered. His eyes rolled as he looked to his staff for help. No one approached. Tate pressed the blade closer. "Do you understand me fat man?"

"Yes," He quailed. "All right, all right. I won't touch her, now get back!"

Tate kept his position for a moment more before dropping the knife and purposefully turning his back on the other man. He went to Rose, who was staring at him with huge, wide eyes. "If he touches you, or anyone else for that matter, you tell me. Understand?"

She nodded her head numbly. Tate reached out and hugged her gently. "I'll see you tonight little one."

He remembered to fetch Christian's supper and as he walked back to the princes suite he reflected upon how good it felt to be a man again, even if only for a few moments.

***

Rose shrieked in delight as she dodged Tate's outstretched hands and sprinted to the far side of the balcony. "You're far too quick for me." Tate laughed, bending over and breathing heavily. "How do you have so much energy?"

"You're old." Rose giggled and pulled a face at him. "Shall I fetch you a cane?"

Tate straightened his back and mock glared at her. "I am not old!" he said indignantly. He shot towards her and in her surprise she merely shrieked. He caught her up in his arms and raised her high above his head. "Who's old now?" He demanded. His arms began to shake and he let out a loud huff. "Dear lord child, how much to you weigh?"

She giggled loudly and Tate began to tickle her mercifully. "Old am I?" He asked, dropping her to the floor and pocking her ribs. "Take it back."

She managed to squirm out of his hold. She spun away from him and in an instant the smile died on her lips. Tate turned quickly and felt the familiar swell of fear he experienced whenever he saw the prince. He stood up and stepped infront of Rose as he offered the princling an unfelt smile. "You're back early my lord."

Christian had a strange look on his face, one that Tate had no way of interpreting. "Get out." He said abruptly.

Tate blinked at him for a moment before he caught Rose by the hand and hurried her towards the tiny room they shared.

***

Not once in all the time they had spent together had Christian ever seen Tate laugh. Thinking back on it Christian could hardly recall ever seeing Tate smile. Occasionally he offered the tiniest upturn of his lips but there was nothing to the movement that suggested any sort of joy.

And he looked so beautiful when he laughed. There was a glow about him, a happiness that he'd never imagined existed. He had always seemed so sad that Christian had assumed that he was a naturally sombre man. The fact that he could laugh and do so with such abandon made Christian realise just how little he knew about the half-blood.

It hurt, knowing that he could laugh like that with a tinker. What was it about them that attracted him so? In a fit of jealousy Christian debated getting rid of the child. The impulse died rather quickly though. Tate was much easier to control with the girl about. He wouldn't run as long as she was around and if that meant having to share him with her he supposed he could allow it, at least until Tate came to love him.

He went back into the main room and called Tate's name. The slight man came to him almost immediately. Christian looked at him, willing him to smile. Moments passed and he realised he was waiting in vain. "I need you to fetch someone for me. Go to the servant's quarters and ask for a tracker named Lamidor."

"A tracker?" Tate asked with a noticeable frown.

"Yes, ask for him by name and bring him back here." When the small man hesitated Christian clapped his hands loudly in the halfling's face. "Hurry then." He ordered impatiently.

Tate sketched a slight bow and hurried away. Christian couldn't quite hide his own smile as he imagined the meeting that was about to take place.

***

"Have you any news of him?" Richard asked, looking bored as he sat back in Lamidor's only chair, causing the tracker to have to sit on his bed.

"The tinkers are keeping themselves well hidden." He admitted begrudgingly. "Obviously he's changed himself quite dramatically if he's avoided detection for as long as he has."

"Can you find him or not?" The captain asked, looking bored and impatient to be gone.

"if he's still in the city i'll find him." Lamidor growled, trying to resist the urge to snap.

"Good, I'll report your progress, or lack thereof, to our prince." He stood up and was about to leave when there was a soft knock on the opposite side of the door. The captain crossed the rest of the short distance to the door and pulled it open. He laughed aloud abruptly and brought a shocked Tate staggering into the room. "Look what I found!" He declared, pushing the boy towards the tracker.

Lamidor wasn't surprised to see the halfling. Christian had told him to expect his page to summon him. Obviously that was why the boy had come to him. "Hello Tate," he said quietly, revelling in the comical way the small man's eyes bulged in shock. Tate stammered something intelligible and scampered back from the trackers reach. "I didn't think we'd meet again." Lamidor continued as Tate clearly struggled to grasp what was going on. "The fate's work in mysterious ways it seems." His eyes ran up and down the length of Tate's lean form, noticing how fine he looked beneath the few bruises that marred his otherwise sickeningly beautiful face. "How fortuitous you look." He mocked "Fine new clothes and boots. Whoring has its advantages it would seem."

A spark of anger passed swiftly over the half-blood face. His golden skin flushed slightly before he managed to visibly compose his expression. "You're looking remarkably fine yourself." He smirked, his imperious accent even thicker as his eyes ran over the elder man. "Of course a pig dressed as a wolf is still just a pig."

Richard snickered as he caught the half-blood's shoulder and hauled him to his side. A good thing he had because Lamidor was about to break the little shits wrist all over again. "Don't listen to him Tracker." Richard laughed. "He's just in a sour mood because the reason for his existence has found fault with him recently."

Tate's twisted out of Richards grasp and bared his teeth. The captain stepped forward, a bright smile on his face as his hand began to reach for him –

"The prince is waiting." He said, backing up towards Lamidor of all people.

"He can wait a moment more, it won't hurt him."

Lamidor was beyond shocked when the halfling stepped behind him. Did he actually think that Lamidor would protect him from the captain? He looked back at Richard and was surprised by the vicious look on the other man's face. "I for one am not prepared to make his highness wait." He said, which was the truth as he had no interest in protecting the halfling from the captain.

Richard's light eyes darkened considerably as he met the mongrel's. "Very well then. I'll leave you alone." He smirked at Tate and then left without acknowledging Lamidor.

They were quiet for a few moments before Tate stepped around him and made his way to the door. "I thought you were dead." He said, making it sound like he wished it were so.

Lamidor shrugged and followed him out. "It takes more than an old crone to kill me boy. I have to say though that I'm surprised you're still here. The prince hasn't tired of you yet?"

"Apparently not." The mongrel answered softly.

***

Lukas cast a weary look around the inn as he searched for his evasive companion. He spotted him at last within a shadowed alcove in the furthest corner from the bar. The other man was hunched tensely over his beer. When Lukas sat down opposite him the young man's head shot up with a fierce expression on his once handsome face.

"By the gods," Lukas gasped, staring at him. "Adam, what happened to you?"

A diagonal scar ran from the other mans cheek down past his nose and upper lip. His mouth seemed drawn back in a constant grimace of distaste that destroyed whatever beauty he'd once possessed. He looked like a man Lukas would normally avoid at any cost. "I got uglied up by some mercenaries looking to send us stragglers down south to the slave galleries. I was the only one that escaped."

"How?" Lukas whispered.

"Well, I stuck my sword into the ones that were chasing me. Unfortunately I wasn't quite fast enough to avoid this little beauty." He tapped his finger just beneath his right eye. "All of the others are gone. Either caught or killed trying to run. It wasn't pretty."

"I'm so sorry." Lukas said softly, leaning forward to take the other man's hand momentarily. "But what would make you come back here?"

"Well here's the fun bit." He grinned, causing the scar to further twist his already ruined face. "I got picked up by some soldiers, northern ones this time. They asked me what happened and I told them I'd been attacked. They found the slavers I killed and they took me for some sort of mercenary. The fools couldn't even comprehend that a gypsy might fight with a sword. An idea popped into my head and I asked what it would take for a man to join them."

"You didn't!" Lukas hissed, leaning forward. "They'd eat you alive."

"Granted it wasn't easy winning my place among them but eventually they thought me fit enough to take a post as a palace guard. Seems my ugly face is exactly the sort of thing they want visiting dignitaries to see."

"But why?" Lukas asked. "Surely the last thing you want is to be apart of those monsters."

A dark and dangerous look passed over the other man's face and Lukas lent back despite himself. He was about to stand and leave when Adam reached out and caught his hand. "I don't think you understand lad. I need to make someone pay for everything they took from me. My whole family is either dead or sold to the south. I can't go on knowing that that little bastard Christian is living on after everything he did. What happens when he becomes king? Do you suppose he'll find another race to destroy? Could you live with that?"

Lukas pulled free. What they were saying was bordering on insane and if anyone overheard them it would an immediate hanging. "Revenge isn't important to me." He replied, softly and calmly.

"No, then why are you still here when everyone else gave up long ago?"

"Because there are people within the palace that I care for, people that I want back."

"Aye, and I know only too well who they are. I've seen them both by the way, your sister and your Shantran. They've passed close enough for me to touch on more than one occasion."

"Truly, you've seen them, both of them?"

"Aye, it's rare to see one without the other. As I understand it your Shantran was gifted with the girl when he nearly murdered a servant for hitting her. It was quite a show, though I wasn't there to see it myself."

"Tate is looking after her?" He nearly fell over with relief. "Are they well?"

"Depends on what you would consider well. They're both alive if that counts for anything."

"Are they being mistreated?" he asked, barely able to mutter the words.

"Your little Rose was before the half-blood got to her. Now she spends most of her time in the kitchens. She's a sad little creature but no one raises a hand to her anymore."

"Anymore?" He groaned. He cupped his face in his hands as he tried to regain his composure. "And Tate?"

"I tell you about him and you might change your mind about revenge."

"Why?" Lukas asked, almost begging. "What has he done?"

"I think saying he's been beaten is an understatement in the extreme. The boy receives a constant stream of abuse from just about anyone he comes in contact with. It's not all physical of course, though believe me when I say he gets enough of that, it's the mental abuse. Day in and day out that boy is made to feel like one of the lowliest creatures that ever walked this world. He's done well to survive so long but I think he'll give up soon. Maybe now he has Rose he'll try to hang on but it seems impossible to me that such a fae creature can endure so much."

Lukas clasped a hand over his face. "You haven't heard anything of Robert have you?"

"Your brother? Not since the day he ran off."

Lukas nodded slowly. He had expected nothing less. "What is your plan?" He asked at length.

Adam smiled widely as he leaned forward. It was a frightening sight. "The wedding my friend, that's our best opportunity to get what we want."

"Which is what?" Lukas whispered.

Adam pulled out his dagger and caressed the blade lovingly. "You get your family back and I get to slit the demon processed bastards throat."