What he hadn’t considered was how different this was from the previous occasion where he’d been injured. Some of the Warriors might not have agreed with what happened, but since Fomadin had attacked him here in the training yard, they had virtually all been witnesses. They might believe that Perian and the others had overreacted, but they’d seen the attack or the blood, had seen Perian hauled off the doctor.
Onthisoccasion, the attack hadn’t happened where any of them could see it. And since it was the castle, rumors were running rife, and the man in question was locked in the dungeon, so of course everyone knew about it. Perian hadn’t been as badly injured, though his wrist was still wrapped, and everyone had clearly heard that he wasinvolved.
Andthismeant that he hadn’t been there for more than a couple of minutes before he was in the middle of an altercation, a black-haired, brown-eyed Warrior who’d hung out with Fomadin and Venoran storming over and accusing Perian of being out to get them. Perian reared back because the last thing he wanted to do was get into another fight, but accusations were being hurled at him about setting people up, pretending to be injured, acting up just to get attention—
There was a tremendous cracking noise, and for just a moment, the earth tilted. A great rift in the ground appeared between Perian and his accuser, making them both stumble back, and then the earth swirled up and turned into a solid wall between them. Perian looked around, but he already knew what he’d find.
Yes, there was Arvus, a rigid expression on his face. Perian remembered him saying that earth wasn’t showy. Apparently, unlike the rest of them, he was just modest.
A moment later, Onadal was there, and he was hauling the other man back practically by his collar.
“Just what do you think you’re doing, Gribon? Would you like to join your friend in the dungeon, because that can absolutely be arranged. In point of fact, Perian isnotone of the accusers in this particular drama; he was harmed in the midst of a rescue attempt. You will head back to your room, and you will contemplate the meaning of justice and of thinking before you act, and you will do itall day. The next time I see you, you better be prepared to tell me why I shouldn’t send you packing.”
Onadal had spoken loudly enough that everyone could hear, and he was now gazing at the crowd, eyes hard. “That goes for all of you. Venoran has been dismissed from the Warriors onmyauthority, and the Queen will make a pronouncement on the other accusations against him. If you believe that I would be swayed simply because of who someone sleeps with, then you don’t know me very well, and you might want to consider a change in career. The accusations that have been made areextremely serious, and they are being addressed by Her Majesty herself because of their severity. If you thinkthe Queenwould decide to simply humor anyone, then you shoulddefinitelylook for a new career. Immediately.” He finally let go of the other man’s collar. “Go.”
Gribon went without even a backward glance at Perian. Actually, none of them were looking at Perian now, but they had the shifty sorts of eyes that said theywantedto be looking at him but weren’t.
“May I say something?” he asked.
Onadal nodded.
“Look,” Perian told the group, some of whom were looking at him now, but many of whom still wouldn’t. “I’ve had the great privilege of training with a lot of you, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not great friends with all of you, and as I think you’ve seen, we don’t all get along, but that’s all right. I mean, I think you all know that I don’t get along with Secundus, right? And yet, there he is, the second most important Mage Warrior in the castle, and nothing’s going to change that.”
There was a ripple of something that was almost laughter, or at least the slightest lightening of mood, which Perian was so relieved about. This wasn’t easy to say.
“I can’t talk much about what happened yesterday because it wasn’t about me. I attempted to help someone who was in distress, and I got hurt while I was doing it. That’s the end of my involvement. What’s being taken before the Queen isn’t what happened to me. IfI had my way, yesterday wouldn’t have happened—but only if that meant that the people who were hurt were safe. I would gladly have this”—he waved his injured hand—“even though I can’t use my right hand now, if it means that someone who hurts people for fun is stopped.”
Perian had probably said too much. But the rumor mill clearly hadaversion going around, and Perian felt like for everyone’s safety, they needed a slightly more accurate version, naming no names, of course.
“Yes, this was absolutely me stumbling somewhere I didn’t belong, but that was because someone was hurting. I didn’t actually manage to stop anything, I just managed to delay it, get hurt, and then get rescued. By Secundus. So any of you who think I set something up and this was all a big plot, think aboutthatfor a while. If you think I could getSecundusto do anything, then you haven’t actually seen us interact. Ever.”
There was another flurry of sound and a bit more amusement on those faces.
Perian forged ahead. “I’m sorry about the disruption this morning, but I can’t apologize for what happened yesterday, and I like to hope I’m standing in front of a group of people most likely to act the same way, if they knew that someone was being hurt. Um, that’s all, really. Sorry for the interruption.”
Perian blew out a breath, not surethathad been the thing to do, but then Bennan came over and gave him a hug, andChamiscame over and gave him a hug, which told Perian that he apparently looked as rough as he felt. Arvus was now standing directly beside him, and Perian was pretty sure he had a shadow for the rest of this session, even though he wasn’t actually going to be doing any training. It was embarrassing, but it seemed like it was maybe necessary.
“We believe in you, Perian,” Bennan told him, and Chamis nodded at his side.
Another Warrior whose name Perian should probably know came and patted him on the shoulder. Most of the Warriors kept to themselves and didn’t approach him, but the sense of hostility seemed to have faded somewhat, and Perian finally sat down again and stared at everyone, not really seeing them.
“How are you doing?” Arvus asked. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop that sooner.”
“You stopped it in plenty of time,” Perian assured him. “It was a lot of words, but I didn’t come to any harm.”
He wasn’t sure if it would have gotten physical if Arvus hadn’t intervened, and he was glad not to have found out. He sighed.
“I can understand not being able to believe something like that about your friend, especially if you’ve only heard some weird rumor mill version of what happened. I do seem to keep getting involved.”
“They’re showing their true colors around you; that isn’t the same thing at all.”
Perian’s lips tipped up. He certainly wasn’t trying to start anything, that was true, and it had only been two Warriors, but itfeltlike more.
Still, he truly believed those two Warriors shouldn’t be in the castle. He shivered as he thought of a man who liked to hurt people, who was big and strong and preyed on people weaker than he was. That was definitely,definitelynot someone who should be in a position of power over anyone.
Arvus stayed with him through the rest of the training session, and Onadal came over to see him near the end.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said.
