A minute passed. Then two.
The ambient noise of the camp—the clatter of spoons, the murmurs of soldiers—began to die down. It wasn't a gradual silence. It was a wave of quiet that swept across the area, starting from the command tent and rolling outward.
Knights stopped eating. Guards stiffened.
Someone was coming.
Norvin felt it before he saw it. Now that he can use Numen, this was obvious. A pressure. A weight in the air that made the fine hairs on his arms stand up.
"Is... is the Captain here to eat?" a young squire whispered nearby.
"Stupid," a veteran knight hissed back. "You think He eats slop with us? Move. Now."
The sound of scraping benches filled the air. Knights stood up, abandoning their meals. Cooks wiped their hands and retreated into the shadows. The medics, including Sizzle who was watching from a distance, lowered their heads and backed away.
The area around the campfire cleared out as if a plague had just walked in.
Into the vacuum walked Thane.
He didn't wear his helmet. His face was sharp, angular, illuminated by the firelight and the pale moon above. He wore a high-collared black coat over his armour.
He walked with a predator's grace—silent, inevitable.
He stopped five feet from the fire. He stood behind Norvin.
Thane didn't speak. He just stood there, a towering calamity of a man, casting a shadow that swallowed the boy whole.
Norvin didn't turn around. He didn't stand up. He didn't bow.
Any other slave would be shaking. Any other soldier would be saluting.
Norvin just sat there, staring at the flames. His fists were clenched so tight the bandages were straining.
Thane looked down at the back of the boy's head. He saw the tension in the boy's shoulders. He felt the radiating heat of pure, unadulterated hatred coming off him.
Thane's expression didn't change. It remained a mask of stoic, icy indifference. But inside, he was pleased.
The weapon was tempering itself in the fire.
Norvin felt Thane's eyes on his neck. He wanted to scream. He wanted to pick up the burning log and smash it into the Captain's face.
Thane sat on the log beside Norvin.
"Your report was false," Thane said. His voice was low, devoid of accusation, merely stating a fact. "Why are you lying?"
Norvin didn't look at him. He stared into the heart of the fire, his bandaged hands resting on his knees.
"I didn't lie," Norvin said quietly. "I just didn't say everything."
"Omission is a lie dressed in cowardice," Thane countered smoothly. He turned his head, his dark eyes boring into the side of Norvin's face. "What are you hiding, boy?"
Thane was fishing. He wanted to know how much the boy understood. He wanted to know if Norvin was simply a lucky survivor or something more dangerous.
Norvin took a deep breath. The heat of the fire felt good on his face, a stark contrast to the cold hatred in his gut.
"I know," Norvin said.
"You know what?"
"The Blood Haze Extract," Norvin said, his voice gaining strength. "The plan to make the Inferno Dragons frenzy. The order to burn Ruxwax to the ground. It was a good plan. A brilliant plan."
Thane raised an eyebrow. "I'm glad you approve."
"But it was a distraction," Norvin continued, turning finally to meet Thane's gaze. "You didn't send me there to clear a path for your army. You didn't send me to win a battle."
Norvin pointed a finger toward the ground, as if pointing through the earth to the deep dungeons of the Obsidian Tower.
"You sent me to free Her."
Thane's stoic mask cracked. A flicker of genuine surprise passed through his eyes.
"Oh?" Thane leaned forward. "Go on."
"The Red Ghost," Norvin said the name, and the air between them seemed to vibrate. "She was the target. She is weak right now. Bound in shackles. Her power is reduced. She can't take over minds unless she has permission, or unless the host has no sense of self... like a frenzied dragon."
Norvin's eyes narrowed. "You wanted me to drug the dragons so she could possess one and break her containment cells. That was the mission. For her to escape."
Thane was silent for a long moment. Then, a slow smile spread across his face. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a man who had just found a sharp knife in a pile of rusty spoons.
"You have seen through all of it," Thane murmured. "Good. You are becoming sharper."
"Don't patronize me!" Norvin snapped, his anger flaring. "I don't care what you think of me! I've grown stronger because I had to, not because of you!"
Norvin stood up, his small frame trembling with rage.
"There's a reason no one else knows about her," Norvin accused. "You can't tell anyone. Because the Red Ghost isn't just a prisoner. She's a criminal. A traitor to the Roric Kingdom. If the High Command knew you were trying to free a calamity like her, you would be executed."
Norvin took a step closer to the sitting Captain.
"You sent a slave because you needed deniability. You care about her. You are willing to risk treason for her."
Thane's smile faded. His face became a wall of granite.
"I am willing to keep this a secret," Norvin said, his voice shaking but defiant. "I will take it to my grave. But... you will need to do a thing for me."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Thane stared at the boy. No one—not his lieutenants, not the enemy generals, not even the Royal Court of Roric Kingdom—had ever dared to give him an order. And here was a child, a slave he had plucked from the mud, trying to blackmail him.
Thane's aura exploded.
It was pure, unadulterated killing intent. The air around the campfire turned heavy and suffocating. Norvin felt like a mountain had just been placed on his shoulders.
"You will take it to your grave?" Thane repeated, his voice dropping to a terrifying whisper. "You are just a kid. Killing you would be easier than swatting a mosquito. I could snap your neck right now, and no one would even ask why."
Norvin flinched. His body screamed at him to run, to beg, to kneel. The fear was primal. Standing in front of Thane was like standing in front of a natural disaster.
But Norvin didn't kneel. He dug his nails into his palms until they bled.
'Endure? No. Retaliate.'
"You can't kill me," Norvin choked out, forcing the words through the pressure.
Thane raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Norvin gasped. "Because... if you kill me... who will free your friend?"
Thane paused.
"You can't do it yourself," Norvin pressed, sensing the opening. "You can't be caught. And there is no one else you trust. The Serpents are loyal to the Kingdom, not you. If you ask them to free a traitor, they will report you to the Royal Court or even to the Imperial Diplomatic Council."
Norvin stood straighter, the pressure easing slightly as Thane's curiosity outweighed his anger.
"But it doesn't matter," Norvin said. "Because I don't trust anyone either. I don't trust the Kingdom. I don't trust the Serpents. And I certainly don't trust you."
"So?" Thane asked.
"So I am the only one who can do it," Norvin declared. "I am willing to go back. I am willing to finish the mission. I will free her."
"For a price," Thane surmised.
"For a trade," Norvin corrected. "Before I leave... I want you to take my revenge for me."
Thane's muscles bulged under his coat. He looked like he was physically restraining himself from tearing the boy apart. But the audacity... the sheer, reckless audacity of it was intoxicating.
"Speak," Thane commanded.
"Kill Gareth," Norvin said, his voice dripping with venom. "Kill Dion. Kill Cahir."
Thane blinked. "Three names."
"Gareth was one of the knights who killed my family," Norvin said, his eyes burning. "Cahir and Dion... they killed Remus."
Thane stared at him. Then, he threw his head back and laughed.
It was a harsh, barking sound that startled the night birds.
"You think you can command me?" Thane laughed, shaking his head. "A child? A slave? You demand the heads of three men—one of them a Titan—as payment for your own failure?"
Thane stood up, towering over Norvin. He leaned down, his face twisted in a cruel sneer.
"You didn't complete your mission, Norvin. You hesitated. You were soft. Remus didn't die because of Cahir or Dion. He died because of you."
The words hit Norvin like a physical blow. He went pale.
"If you had poured the poison, the inferno dragon would have frenzied. The chaos would have covered your escape. Remus would be alive. But you... you let your conscience get in the way."
Thane poked Norvin hard in the chest.
"You killed him. And now you ask me to clean up your mess? You ask for a second chance? Why should I give you anything but a shallow grave?"
Norvin trembled. The guilt threatened to swallow him whole. 'I killed him. I killed him.'
But then he saw the fire. He remembered the dream. He remembered his Grandfather throwing him into the air.
Norvin looked up. He slapped Thane's hand away from his chest.
Thane's eyes widened.
"No," Norvin hissed. "Remus is dead because of you."
Thane froze.
"You sent us there!" Norvin shouted. "You knew the risks! I don't care what the truth is! I don't care what you think! I am not a slave! I won't lower my head to you or anyone else!"
Norvin stepped into Thane's space, looking up at the giant man with eyes that were no longer human. They were the eyes of a beast cornered.
"I will become stronger!" Norvin screamed. "Strong enough that the world bends the truth for me! If I say it was Cahir, then it was Cahir! If I say it was you, then it was you!"
Thane stopped.
He heard it.
Faintly at first, then louder. The rhythm. The tune.
It was the song of rage. It was the melody of war. The same song that had played in Thane's head for twenty years.
"Strength..." Thane whispered, testing the word. "You think strength is just fighting spirit? You think it's shouting?"
Thane grabbed Norvin by the collar and lifted him off the ground with one hand, bringing him face to face.
"Strength is tactics," Thane hissed. "Strength is the mentality to use underhanded tricks, to lie, to cheat, to give the damn world worse than it gave you."
Thane's eyes glowed with a terrifying intensity.
"I don't care if I have to kill every single person in this camp," Thane said, gesturing to the sleeping army around them. "My own men. The enemy. The King. I don't care. I am strong enough to do whatever I want. No one in this world can stop me."
He brought Norvin closer.
"I could free her on my own. I could walk into that tower, slaughter everyone inside, and drag her out. The only reason I don't is because it's messy. Not because I can't."
Norvin hung in the air, staring at the man who held his life in one hand.
For the first time, the hatred faltered.
'Strong enough to do whatever he wants. No one can stop him.'
It was exactly what Norvin wanted. It was the freedom he dreamed of.
"Even if you have to destroy the world for it?" Norvin whispered.
Thane didn't blink. "That I am definitely going to do. Sooner or later."
Norvin was taken aback. This man truly didn't care. No loyalty to the flag. No loyalty to his men. He was a force of nature, bound only by his own desires. He was ready to burn the world to save the one person he cared about—the Red Ghost.
Norvin felt a strange sensation in his chest. It wasn't fear anymore. It was admiration. Dark, twisted admiration.
"Put me down," Norvin said.
Thane dropped him. Norvin landed on his feet, stumbling but staying upright.
Norvin dusted off his shirt. He looked at Thane with a new resolve.
"The world..." Norvin said softly. "It's not yours to destroy."
Thane tilted his head. "No?"
"No," Norvin said, looking at his hands. "It's mine."
He looked up, his eyes hard as diamonds.
"I will go back. I will save the Red Ghost. I will make sure the world doesn't know you are a traitor. And this time... I won't fail."
He pointed at Thane.
"And you... you will kill those three for me."
Thane crossed his arms. "Why do you want to destroy the world, Norvin? Because it killed your parents? Because it killed Remus? Is that it? Just petty revenge?"
"No," Norvin answered instantly.
"Then why?"
"Because it took my freedom," Norvin said. "It took the people I love. It took away my rights. It tried to make me die in the mud."
He took a deep breath, channelling numen in his body.
"I won't die in the mud. I will die in a palace surrounded by gold. And each gold coin will be stained with the blood of my enemies."
Norvin spat into the fire.
"I don't care about these kingdoms. Roric. Kvothe. As someone I know once said... I am not fighting for any unjust kings. The kings can lick my ass."
Thane's mouth twitched. He knew exactly whose words these were.
"I choose whom I protect," Norvin declared. "And I choose whom I kill. I will get so strong, so much power in my hands, that even the Heavens will fear me."
Thane listened. He watched the boy transform. The trembling slave was gone. The weeping child was gone.
Standing before him was a mirror. A younger, smaller, unbroken version of himself.
"Are you willing?" Thane asked suddenly, his voice serious.
"Willing for what?"
"To get betrayed," Thane listed, ticking off fingers. "To be broken. Stabbed. Gutted. Kicked. Your bones will break. Your mind will be shattered into pieces. Your soul will be burned countless times."
Thane stepped closer, looming over him.
"Can you keep going when there is nothing in your stomach and your body cries for food? Can you continue to train when your bones have become powder and your flesh no longer remains? Can you cut your enemies down when you, yourself, are in the most miserable state imaginable?"
"That's just another normal day for me," Norvin replied without hesitation.
Thane stared at him. Then, slowly, a genuine smile spread across his face. It wasn't cruel. It wasn't mocking. It was the smile of a predator recognizing its own kin.
Thane understood now. The nature sang for the boy just as it sang for him. They were the same.
Thane saw himself in Norvin. Bound to no King. No land. No tribe. No clan. No religion.
'He is the one who protects. He is the one who kills. His will is the will of God, and his actions are righteous to the one he protects.'
"Done," Thane said.
"Done?"
"I will kill those three men," Thane promised. "Gareth. Dion. Cahir. Their heads will be my payment to you."
"And in return?" Norvin asked.
"In return," Thane said, his eyes gleaming in the firelight, "you will accept my condition. A condition for your future."
Norvin paused. He knew this would be a heavy cost. A deal with Thane was a deal with the Devil.
"Does it include me dying in the mud?" Norvin asked. He certainly didn't want to die like a pig.
Unexpectedly Thane said, "Yes". Thane chuckled darkly. "Perhaps. Perhaps you will die in the mud, boy. But if you accept... you will live like a King until you do."
Norvin looked at the Captain. He looked at the fire. He looked at the vast, uncaring night sky.
'Live like a King.'
It was the best offer the world had ever given him.
He didn't ask what the condition was. He didn't care.
"If your condition includes destroying the world," Norvin said, a dangerous smile matching Thane's appearing on his face, "I accept."
Thane grinned, his teeth white and sharp in the darkness.
"Naturally."
There, by the dying campfire, the Monster and the Beast smiled at each other.
If anyone else—anyone except the Red Ghost—could see Thane smiling like that, they would have run in terror. It was a smile that promised ruin.
Norvin saw a way to get his freedom from Fate in this man—Thane, a traitor no one knew. And Thane saw a way to achieve his dream in Norvin—a dream he had always wanted, but could never quite reach alone.
The pact was sealed in smoke and blood. The world was not ready for what was coming.