Missing some context?
Read part one of Scout and Marius here.
Read Part Two here.
This week’s musical inspiration: “Song for Bob”
The old decommissioned buggy gave fits and starts as I navigated roads that hadn’t been traversed since my parent’s time. Marius drifted in and out of consciousness next to me on the canvas seat. I tried to shut out the stab of regret for leaving my family’s territory again, but it was all too real to see the groves of my childhood pass by.
Kennett will never be mine. I may as well leave it to the Usurper for good.
I hated to think of him, even his name, but as we rumbled past the stone border walls of my homeland, his name was even there at the chiseled boundary marker.
“KENNETT TERRITORY, GOVERNED BY THE ANOINTED CYRUS MARKSON, RECOMMENDED 13TH FORTNIGHT 2310”.
Grief and cold fury welled up. I gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white. It wasn’t his. It didn’t belong to him. I would take what was mine.
A pained groan came from beside me. I glanced back to Marius, and that stab of regret returned. I couldn’t take Kennett at his expense, not when he’d already given so much to keep me safe.
“Marius?”
“Yeah.” Damnit, he looked so tired. Looking at his battered face, bruised and bloody… I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
“Don’t pull a stunt like that again.”
He cracked a swollen eye in my direction. “Aw Scout, you gotta admit–”
“Don’t pull that shit again.” I couldn’t keep the anger from my voice if I tried. “It’s not worth your life.”
He shook his head. “We’ve been running scared, Scout. I’m done with it. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
I stared hard at him. “Your lands? Your sons? Any of that sound familiar? Marius, you’re a goddamned Anointed!”
He barked a laugh. “Silas is grown and his brothers circle his claim like sharks. They don’t need me. They’re ready. I’ll step down tomorrow. I’ll recommend Silas for Anointing as soon as we reach Burres.”
I sat back, stunned.
“Don’t tell me no, Scout. I made up my mind before we left for Kennett.”
“You’ll be an open target for him.” Markson wouldn’t launch an assault against a fellow Anointed. A former one, though?
His bloody knuckles grasped my hand. Tarnished metal underneath smeared crimson flashed from his middle finger. It was difficult to imagine him without his mark of office.
“You gave me back my youth, Scout. A second chance. I’ve never had so much clarity before in my life. It’s time for me to do what feels right for me, not what’s right for the Tannagin signet.” He tugged off the heavy gold ring on his middle digit. It landed with a clatter on the dash as he let it fall from his fingertips.
“You’ll have one of these before too long. You might think it’s worth it, but I’m lookin’ at the only thing that’s worth fighting for.” He ran his thumb around the signet one more time. “It’s time for me to come into my own.”