Shadowdance 01 - A Dance of Cloaks

spoke first.
    “I know who must have killed him,” she said. The fact that Aaron heard her meant she spoke the truth. He felt his heart drop into his gut. Kayla glanced over to Robert, and Aaron swore he saw a tiny nod of approval.
    “Who?” asked Thren.
    “It was Haern.”
    Silence filled the room. Aaron looked to his teacher, a cry of denial on his lips, but Robert’s stern glare kept him quiet. He realized then what was going on. The old man would die to protect the young. Hot rage pulsed through his veins.
    Thren turned to Robert, his eyes cold steel.
    “Did you somehow arrange for Dustin’s death?” he asked.
    Robert remained silent.
    “Did you teach my son about Ashhur?” he asked.
    Robert remained silent.
    “Did you make his heart weak with words of compassion and mercy?” he asked.
    Silence.
    “Aaron,” Thren said, pushing Senke aside and taking his short sword. He held the hilt toward his son. With a shaking hand, Aaron accepted the offered blade. He felt strong hands take his shoulders and guide him before his teacher. Robert knelt, his arms tied behind his back. Tears were in his eyes.
    “I don’t want to,” Aaron said. All there heard.
    “I will suffer none to betray me,” Thren said. “Kill him. Let his blood cover your hands so you know the price of weakness. Dabble in betrayal, dabble in death. Now do as you’re told.”
    He looked once more to his teacher. Impossible as it seemed, the old man was smiling.
    “I forgive you,” Robert said. “Now do it.”
    No lie. Aaron couldn’t believe it. Forgiveness before the sin was even committed, unasked, undeserved. As he held the short sword, he felt Aaron dying. To kill his teacher for a truthful lie spoken by Kayla, all to save his own life…
    He swung the blade. Warm blood splashed across his arms. Robert gagged twice, his windpipe cut, then slumped over and died.
    “Well done, Aaron,” Thren said.
    “Haern,” the boy whispered back. Thren did not understand the importance of hearing that single word spoken aloud, but Kayla did.
    “I’ll clean up the body,” Senke offered.
    “No,” said Thren as he took the sword from Aaron’s hand. “My son made the mess. Let him clean it up.”
    Senke untied Kayla’s hands and helped her to her feet. She rubbed her raw wrists while watching the guildmaster from the corner of her eye. Thren reached out and touched her face with his fingers.
    “Forgive me for the blow,” he said to her. “I struck in anger and false assumption. Robert’s time alone with him was clearly ill spent.”
    Kayla was wise enough to keep her mouth shut.
    “Come,” Thren said, walking beside Kayla as if nothing were the matter. “I want to make sure Laurie’s entrance to Veldaren is as memorable as possible.”
    They left Senke alone with Aaron, who remained standing before the body. He felt dumb struck, and was on the verge of tears.
    “I have nothing to clean up the blood with,” he said, his voice oddly distant. Senke tried to laugh, but it came out more as a choked cough.
    “There’s a closet in the corner with a bunch of spare sheets. You can use one of them.”
    Aaron obeyed, moving in a stiff, methodical manner. Senke watched him, all the while rubbing his fingers across the front of his chest.
    “I’ve had sex with a horse,” he said as Aaron walked back. Aaron paused, but Senke laughed again, his face flushing a pale shade of red.
    “Just testing the spell,” Senke said. “Clearly it’s worn off.”
    “Clearly.”
    Aaron knelt and began mopping up the blood. He kept his eyes straight down, afraid of seeing the body. The sight of it seemed so … wrong.
    “Listen,” Senke said as he knelt down. “That was a special man, and an old one too. He was ready to go, and I don’t think he was too upset with you about it, all right? I know how much pressure Thren’s putting on you. He wants you to replace him one day, and to be a name the whole world fears.”
    “I don’t want the world to fear me,” Aaron whispered. “I want them to love Haern.”
    “Haern?” asked Senke. “I’m not sure I…”
    Aaron glanced up at him, his stare hard and full of killing. Senke’s mouth dropped open.
    “It’s strange an old man could kill someone like Dustin,” he said carefully. “It’d have to be someone younger. Someone who could slip out without being noticed…”
    Aaron swallowed, returned to wiping away the mess.
    “I could get killed for this,” Senke said as he stood. He