by Grace Martin
They cheered. I suspected that they would have cheered anything he said. No wonder he had stood in front of the Empress with such pride and determination. He stood for his whole nation, enslaved in a foreign land. His people knew that he was utterly theirs and gave him their loyalty and faith in return. He was nothing short of magnificent.
Caradoc was still holding my hand. Now he let go and took a step back from me. He raised his arm to show me to the people. ‘Brothers and Sisters, the Bach Chwaer has returned to save us in our hour of need!’
The crowd went wild. They shouted, they sang, they wept ‒ for me. I’d seen the mourning in the city today and been surprised that Aoife could inspire such grief, but it was an even greater shock to realise that the people had been mourning me. Now I was back again and it was like the sun had come out for them.
Caradoc gave them a stirring speech and I was so moved that I barely heard a word of it. He talked about heroism, about loyalty, about unity. By the end of it, every mage in the square had not only pledged to stand in a star with me in the morning, but also to go to their neighbours and shake them until all their magi fell out and agreed to help too.
I must have shaken a thousand hands when Caradoc and I left the square. People just wanted to touch me. Hands stretched out to touch my shoulder or my hair and I might have been uncomfortable if Caradoc hadn’t been beside me, ready to smash heads if anyone went too far. We bade a final farewell to the Camiri at the edge of the square. Caradoc murmured to me and then we both turned into birds and flew away, to the rapturous applause of the Camiri.
We flew onto the section of roof that I considered practically our private property and changed back into our own shapes. My heart was still pounding with the excitement of the crowd. ‘I don’t know how I’m supposed to go back to sleep after that,’ I said.
‘Good,’ Caradoc replied, ‘because we’ve got one more stop before going back to sleep.’
‘Where?’ I asked. I flung out my arms in an excess of emotion and cried, ‘Are we flying to the moon?’
Caradoc laughed. ‘You’re drunk on the crowd!’ He caught me in an embrace for the briefest of moments and planted a kiss on my lips, just as drunk on excitement as I was, but he sobered quicker. ‘Emer, you have to talk to the Empress.’
‘But it’s the middle of the night. Can’t we just go back to bed, you and I together, and I’ll talk to her in the morning?’ I wilted against him.
He was tempted, but he took a step back from me. ‘It’s the right thing to do,’ he said. ‘She loved you too, Emer. She thought you were dead and her heart was broken too. If she learns that you presented yourself to the Camiri and then had a nice rest before you bothered to see her, it would make her grieve and you wouldn’t do that, would you? If you appeared to the Camiri and then went straight to her ‒ she would understand that. She knows what it is to rule a people.’
‘Since when do you two get on?’ I asked.
‘Since you were presumed dead,’ he said flatly. ‘All of a sudden we had something in common. Just ‒ just don’t tell her you were with me this afternoon. She loves you like her own flesh and blood and she wants to think you love her too.’
‘But I don’t,’ I said. ‘I barely know her and I think it’s weird that she’s so attached to me. I don’t see why I should pretend that I think she’s my long-lost mother or something.’
‘I’m not asking you to pretend anything. I’m asking you to show someone who loves you some basic consideration and let her know that you’re alive. I’m not asking you to fall onto her breast and tell her she’s your only family, even if by the look of you, you probably are related somewhere down the line.’
‘You think we look alike?’ I asked. I didn’t know why the thought hadn’t occurred to me. The Empress looked similar to Aine and Aoife and as I looked like the twins it only made sense that the Empress and I would look alike. By all accounts the Empress was from a distant part of the world and the twins’ parents had lived in Rheged all their lives, so I couldn’t imagine how they were related, but if the Empress was three hundred years old as Aoife had claimed, perhaps there was some connection somewhere.
I’d spent my life alienated from the world. Every year I’d had a new name, a new home and a new guardian. I’d never had any family except my Sparrow. Now it appeared that Elisabeth wasn’t my sister at all but over the last few weeks I’d found a mother and an aunt (although I still didn’t know which one was which), an Uncle Gwydion and I wasn’t even sure what I wanted Andras to be to me. I’d found either an aunt or a sister in Rhiannon and a sister in Umbra. I’d found a grandfather in the Dark King. And I’d found more family than I’d ever dreamed of in Caradoc. I never knew there was so much family in the world.
I’d been reluctant to get close to the Empress because I thought, if I didn’t have any family, then I was going to stay independent and unattached. Now it seemed that I was attached everywhere and I could afford to spare the lonely Empress some consideration. If she really wanted me to, I could call her Grandmother.
‘All right,’ I said.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There was a guard outside the Empress’s room ‒ I recognised Galeran from the night Rhiannon had examined me. Galeran recognised me too. His eyes went wide and he drew in a sudden, deep breath then dropped straight away to one knee, bowing his head and holding his sword to me, hilt first.
‘Bach Chwaer, you’re alive!’ he cried. ‘Accept my service!’
I looked at Caradoc quickly. What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t going to take his sword. That would be weird. So, I channelled Aoife again. ‘Rise, Galeran,’ I said. ‘I wish to speak to the Empress.’
‘Certainly, Bach Chwaer,’ he said. He got to his feet again. I’d never been in the Empress’s room before. I assumed her door led to her bedroom, but instead it led to an ante room where more guards knelt and offered me their swords. The next room was full of ladies in waiting whom I couldn’t remember ever seeing before. They curtseyed and expressed their delight that I was alive and promised to keep Caradoc comfortable until I was finished talking with the Empress.
Those are words designed to put wings on your heels.
I finally entered the Empress’s bedroom. Her room was designed to catch as much moonlight as possible. The room opened out onto a wide balcony and the roof above that whole side of the room nearest the balcony was made of glass. The bed was positioned beneath the skylight, near the balcony and was bathed in moonlight. The Empress was asleep, her eyes covered with a mask to stop her waking up when the moonlight fell on her face.
That detail was somehow very touching. My Sparrow was not a night bird. She used to have to wear an eye mask when the moon was full, because the light made her wake up in the night. The thought of the powerful Empress and the powerless Sparrow having something in common made me like the Empress even more.
I didn’t want to touch her, but I hardly knew what I should say to wake her up. I didn’t even know her name.
‘Your Majesty,’ I said softly. ‘Your Majesty, wake up. I’ve come back.’
She sighed, slowly rising from sleep. ‘Ah, Emer, Bach Chwaer,’ she murmured, rolling onto her side and bringing one hand to her cheek and extending the other over the sheet towards me. ‘Go to sleep, Hawk, it’ll be all right in the morning.’
I stood there in the moonlight, utterly shattered. I stared at her, my mouth open, then I gasped. I gasped again and pressed my lips together tightly to stop them quivering. Maybe it was because it was dark, maybe it was because her guard was down and her voice was soft and sleepy, but she’d said that to me a thousand times or more. And I thought I’d know her voice anywhere.
She’d been calling me by name practically since we met. I’d thought it was a ceremonial title, but Bach Chwaer literally meant ‘little sister.’
I started to cry, because I hated myself for not recognising her sooner. I fell to my knees beside her bed. ‘Oh, Elisabeth!’ I cried. ‘Sparrow, I’m here! I’
ve come back to you!’
She murmured again and pushed the mask up from her eyes, blinking a little in the bright moonlight. ‘Emer?’ she asked.
‘Sparrow, I’m here,’ I gasped. I took hold of her hand and wept into it like a child.
She sat up suddenly. Her other hand came down on my hair and traced the shape of the knot, just as Elisabeth had always done. ‘My Emer,’ she whispered brokenly. Her hand fell onto my shoulder then suddenly she bent double and wept over me. ‘Oh, Emer!’
It wasn’t until we were calm enough for words that she said, ‘We’re backwards,’ which probably seems like an odd thing to say but I knew what she meant.
‘I know,’ I said. I climbed up onto the bed to sit next to her, clambering over her knees. She turned and lay sideways, resting her head in my lap just as I’d always comforted her, all our lives together. If nothing else could convince me that she was Elisabeth, this was it, because this was us.
‘Emer, I thought I’d lost you again. I thought you’d been killed. No one could find you. Where did you go? Why would you leave me when I’d only just found you again?’ It was the plaintive cry of a lost little girl and it tugged on my last heart string.
‘I wouldn’t leave you for anything, not for anything,’ I whispered, leaning over her to kiss her cheek as she looked up at me. ‘You’re my world, you know that. You’re everything. Nothing is more important to me than you.’
‘But you left me.’
‘I was taken from you, chick. I had to wait until the moon was full until I had enough magic to return to you.’ I kissed her again. ‘I have a long story to tell you, about Sir Cai ‒ about Maldwyn ‒ and about Aine. For now, let it be enough to show you this.’
I took Umbra out of my hair and showed her to Elisabeth. ‘Umbra!’ she cried. ‘I was so busy thinking of you I didn’t even notice she was in your hair just now. She was always so much a part of you I just took her for granted.’ She sat up and took hold of the little wand. Umbra liked Elisabeth, always had, and initially flared at her touch, then dimmed.
‘She’s probably surprised I’ve gotten so old,’ Elisabeth said. ‘Oh, Emer, we can save Aoife now. Please, Emer, say you will? I know you don’t get on with her, but she’s either your mother or mine and she needs to live.’
‘Probably my mother,’ I said wryly. ‘The more I get to know myself, the more I think Aoife and I have more in common than I realised.’
‘She and I have more in common than I realised, too,’ Elisabeth murmured, looking down at the bedclothes. She drew in a short, sharp breath, then sat up straighter and all of a sudden she was the Empress again. ‘We must summon the Librarians,’ she said. ‘We must make a plan for tomorrow. I’m not losing you twice.’
She rang a bell beside the bed. A lady in waiting entered the room and if she was surprised to see me sitting on the Empress’s pillow, she didn’t say as much. Elisabeth rattled off a string of orders ‒ for clothes, for the Librarians, for food and drink ‒ and the lady in waiting bobbed and hurried from the room. There was whispered discussion in the ante room and then the sound of them leaving the room to attend the Empress’s bidding.
I got off the bed and put Umbra back into my hair as Elisabeth’s ladies in waiting went around the room lighting candles and she got ready to leave.
When we went back out through the ante room, Elisabeth saw Caradoc sitting in a chair.
‘What are you doing here?’ she snapped.
He stood up and bowed. ‘I brought you good news, your Majesty. I hope it found you happy?’
She softened. She turned to look at me. ‘It found me very happy,’ she said. ‘You might as well join us. There are plans that need to be made. We are going to meet with the Librarians in the Council Chamber.’
Caradoc joined us and didn’t show by any sign or word that he was anything more than a deferential courtier. When we got to the Council Chamber, the Librarians were already assembling, the room filling up quickly with sleepy men and women. The Empress snapped at them until they were fully awake and then turned the floor over to me.
I told nearly the whole story. I told them about Sir Cai and how he had tethered the spirits of the murdered women to trees so that he could use their magic to gain a longer life. Not meeting Caradoc’s gaze, I told them how Maldwyn had been aware of his master’s plans and had not only accepted them but had walked away when I begged for help. I saw Elisabeth’s face when I told her that. Her only surprise was that Maldwyn was a boy, here in her palace. She ordered for him to be brought to the Chamber so she could pronounce judgement on him.
I told them that Aine and I were captured, but I didn’t tell them about the rape. They didn’t need to know that much. I told them of our surprise when we realised that not only were we going to Camaria, but that those lands were ruled by none other than Aine’s father. Elisabeth went very still when I told her that Aine was going to stay with her father. I said something about hope, that this might be a new beginning for both nations, that they might at last know a time of peace.
‘We shall see,’ the Empress said.
Finally, I told them about Umbra. I drew her from my hair which, released from its secure position, tumbled down my back when I shook my head a little bit. Aoife was right. I was a showman. I couldn’t help the drama. Kiaran leaped to his feet at the sight of the little wand, his eyes fixed on her greedily and the other Librarians gasped and broke into excited chatter.
We formulated a plan. It felt surreal, talking about what we were going to do when the dragon attacked later in the morning. For all my bravado, I wasn’t sure I could handle it, even with the aid of the Camiri and the Librarians. I found myself casting furtive glances at Elisabeth and Caradoc, each of whom gave me fresh heart. I had more to live for than ever before. I wasn’t going to give up now.
The Council adjourned and we all went back to bed to try and get a few more precious hours sleep before dawn. I went to my own room and let Caradoc go to his. He may have looked at me hopefully, but he didn’t say anything. I was nervous about the day ahead and I was getting serious about wanting some sleep beforehand. If I went with Caradoc then, as much as I cared about him, I wasn’t going to sleep as peacefully as I would if I was alone. We could push my boundaries together some other time, if I survived.
Darragh was to come for Aoife at noon. I tossed and turned for a few hours, telling myself that time horizontal was more or less the same as sleep but I was getting seriously agitated. The time I’d killed the dragon at the Halls of the Young, I hadn’t had time to prepare or even time to think about it.
By the time I rolled out of bed I was pretty sure this was the dumbest thing I’d ever put my hand up for. If it wasn’t for the fact that Elisabeth had begged me for it, I would have been winging my way back to Ce’Branna before morning.
There was one more thing to do before facing Darragh: facing Maldwyn.
I didn’t realise until I reached the Council Chamber again that the Empress had called for Maldwyn’s trial. When I arrived there, he was sitting in a chair in the corner, his ungainly, teenage boy sized hands wrapped in manacles and guards surrounding him. He looked up and saw me and I saw hope die in his eyes. He knew this was the end, but he looked like he had received a smack from the Universe and didn’t know what he’d done wrong.
Whether there had been any hope for the boy from the time he was born I didn’t know, but I knew that he’d already reached the stage where he didn’t want to change. He had gone along with his master’s wishes and not just stood by but actively assisted him to murder a series of women. There could be no normal for Maldwyn after that. The pattern for the man I knew had already been set into the boy.
The trial was very short. What passed for legal process in the Thousand Counties was limited to the Empress’s opinion and even before I got up to tell the room what Maldwyn had done, I knew that Elisabeth was going to sentence him to death. When we lived in Cairnagorn, Maldwyn had focused his hate on me and had abused me many, many t
imes and in every way he could imagine. He only touched Elisabeth once, but Elisabeth knew what he’d done to me, and for sisters as close as we were it was almost worse for her that he’d hurt me. It was certainly that way for me. When he’d hurt Elisabeth, I’d gone over the edge.
Elisabeth listened to each of us, giving our side of the story. Maldwyn tried to say that he had no choice, that the Knight had been brutal to him, that if he had refused to participate the Knight would have hurt him, but I’d seen the glee in his eyes. Maybe that was how it started out, but that wasn’t how it was when he left me and Aine to be destroyed by his master.
Elisabeth didn’t show any kind of mercy. She faced him squarely and told him that there was no hope for him to ever become a decent human being, then she told him that he would be executed that very evening. He broke down and cried then. I felt… uncomfortable, maybe? I didn’t know how I felt.
Caradoc was there. When he heard the verdict, he closed his eyes tightly, but I couldn’t tell what he felt either. He’d listened to me talk about what Maldwyn had done and he inferred, as no one else in that court room could have, that Maldwyn had been able to intervene when the soldiers caught up with me and Aine and had chosen to leave us to our fate. If Elisabeth was unforgiving, maybe Caradoc was unforgiving too.
And the next thing I knew, it was nearly noon. Caradoc and I said goodbye. His place was with the Camiri magi, forming a line that would feed power to me, but they were to remain hidden until the last moment so Darragh didn’t know how many resources we had.
I’d never seen Caradoc look so grim. He was clean-shaven, pale, his hair drawn back into braids to tame the wild mass. He wore the armour he’d worn during the rebellion, with its clear insignia of the Camiri on the surcoat.
I supposed I was pale, too, dressed in the clothes he’d had made for me with Umbra stuck into my hair. Caradoc pulled me aside into the temporary privacy of an empty room, kicking the door shut behind him.