Oathbreaker, Book 1: The Knight's Tale - Colin McComb

and I don’t care now. Way I figure it, if he felt contempt for me, he’d despise me, but he wouldn’t
want to put a sword in me, except maybe out of pity. And I thought that his sword had just tasted
battle, and that he wouldn’t want to execute someone after that heat. I guess I was right, too.
Anyway, he fixed me with his eyes, and in that monotone voice he started talking. Said
something like, “This is a bad time, taverner. We’ve all turned into sheep, because we ain’t got
the sense to know who’s a good ruler anymore. We just let those arselickers in Terona make our
decisions for us, and it’s making us animals, not people, and when we get too smart to keep our
heads down, why, we ask for someone to put our eyes out so we don’t see too close. And then
those bastards in charge take our eyes like they’re doing us a favor.”
Now look, I don’t agree with what he was saying. I’m telling you what he said.
So then he kept going, saying, “We don’t believe in real heroes anymore. We believe in
jesters and mummers and monsters who suck away our dreams and give their tiny visions, and
instead of trying to dream bigger than that we pretend this is the limit of the world.”
His voice held me there, and I knew he was speaking treason but I didn’t have the
strength to stop him. It seemed like he was speaking too much sense then. Not that I agree with it,
though, oh no! He talked longer in that vein while the fire died down on the hearth behind him
and the bodies started cooling, and I think he’d have kept talking ’til dawn came if the baby
hadn’t started crying then.
He let those eyes slip off me then to focus on the infant, and I found I could breathe
again. He set the baby down on the bench gentle as can be, stood, turned from me, and stoked the
fire ’til it burned brightly again.
“Pack me a bundle, taverner. Include bread, milk, water, and whatever fruits you have in
season. Pack the best you have, if you value your life.”
I hurried off to do that. I don’t think there was any doubt in his mind that I’d follow his
order. When I was done, I came back and laid the pack down beside his blade.
table.
He didn’t take his eyes off the child, but he grabbed my right wrist and pinned it to the
“Taverner.” His eyes met mine.
“Yes, m’lord?” I tried to keep my voice from quaking.
“You knew what they were planning.”
“No, my lord, no! I had no idea!”
“You lie, taverner. I saw you watching me. I saw you watching them. You thought of
warning me, but instead held your tongue. You also overcharged me for the inferior food you
Colin McComb Oathbreaker, Book 1: The Knight's Tale
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