A Dagger of the Mind (The Imperial Metals) by Daniel Antoniazzi Page B

man’s spirit had broken long ago.
    The Warden slipped the key in the lock, turning it gently. But the gears hadn’t been engaged in years. He had to force the tumblers to get any traction. At the jiggling of the key ring, the prisoner stirred awake and rubbed his eyes. He clearly wasn’t anticipating any danger, rising at a casual pace.
    “Is it feeding time already?” he said to himself, groggily standing up.
    The Warden jammed at the lock, fighting with the rusted mechanism, and finally opened the gate. The prisoner then noticed that the Warden was hurrying, and had drawn a knife.
    “Wait!” the prisoner said. “No! Wait, you have to listen to me!”
    But the Warden was fast and strong. He grabbed the prisoner by the jaw to silence him, and in the same motion, forced his head up to expose his neck. He stabbed his knife into the prisoner’s jugular. The prisoner started to gargle, trying still to explain something, but the Warden stabbed again.
    Now the prisoner’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, though he continued to have convulsions. The Warden had hea rd about people making amazing recoveries from incredible wounds, and with the emergence of magical healing in the Kingdom, he wanted to be sure. He stabbed the prisoner’s scant torso another eight times, until he was sure the job was done.
    He covered the body with a blanket. The guards would drag the body upstairs, and they’d burn his remains, blanket and all, under cover of night.
     
     

Chapter 9: Summer Vacation
     
    Twenty years ago…
     
    Michael stepped out of the carriage and stretched his legs. It had been a long journey. He was finishing his sixth year at the Towers of Seneca, and as he had every year since enrolling, he was coming home for the summer. The Castle Hartstone, the capital of the County of Deliem. His Father’s domain.
    Some porters came out and began unloading the carriage. Michael looked around to see if there would be any sort of welcoming party. He finally spotted Gabriel coming down the main steps.
    “Good afternoon, Master Michael,” Gabriel said.
    “A pleasure to see you, Master Gabriel. Are my parents on their way down?”
    “Your father asked me to see you to your room. He and your mother are having a… discussion about an upcoming journey.”
    They began walking up the steps, following the porters into the Castle.
    “A ‘discussion,’ is it?” Michael asked, with a wry tone.
    “I suppose you’ve known for some time,” Gabriel said, “But prudence still counts for something around here. When I speak to anyone outside the court, they are never fighting or arguing. They are always just discussing.”
    They walked in silence until they came to Michael’s room in the East Tower. As it always was when he returned from the Towers, the room was made up nicely, and the bed looked very inviting after the long carriage ride.
    “Well, here you are,” Gabriel said. “I’ll have someone come and fetch you for dinner.”
    “Thank you, Master Gabriel,” Michael said.
    “As a matter of decorum,” Gabriel said, “You do not need to call me ‘Master.’ You will soon be a Master yourself, and in any case, you are the heir to the County. Someday, I’ll have to start calling you ‘Count’ anyway.”
    “Well, you’ve known me since I was born,” Michael said, “It seems that even decorum should make way for respect.”
    Gabriel grumbled something, but Michael had known Gabriel for just long enough to know that it was a pleased grumble. Or, at least, it was as pleased a grumble as you could get out of him.
    “By the way,” Michael said, “What journey are my parents…discussing?”
    “King Vincent has asked that your father act as the Ambassador to Delinampora, in Khiransi. They would leave in about a week and spend the summer there.”
    “What’s the problem?”
    “It’s a question of staffing,” Gabriel said.
    “I’m sorry?” Michael said.
    “Perhaps you are too young for the full