The Queen's Executioner

by Christopher Mitchell

  Shella approached him, craning her neck upwards.

  Towering over her, the man stared down at her face, and nodded.

  He said something, his voice a throaty guttural rumble, the words unintelligible to her, and his companions also nodded, some looking relieved. The red-haired male smiled at her.

  ‘Who are you?’ she asked them.

  ‘I am Kylon,’ their leader said. ‘We’ve travelled a whole season. Looking for you.’

  ‘For me? Why?’

  ‘We have a mage who sees the future,’ he said. ‘He saw you in mine.’

  ‘He saw me?’

  ‘He saw you. He told me I needed to find you, to protect you from what’s going to happen.’

  ‘What’s going to happen?’ she asked, scarcely believing that she had said the words. No one could see into the future, she knew this, yet the man in front of her held her mesmerised.

  ‘He didn’t say,’ he replied. ‘All I know is that I’m here to save you from it.’

  She stared up at him. He was handsome, in a rough and massive kind of way, though his eyes held a troubled well of pain.

  ‘You’re the one,’ Kylon said, ‘and we pledge our lives to you.’

  Chapter 19

  Dreams of Killop

  Rahain Capital, Rahain Republic – 24th Day, Last Third Winter 504

  As Daphne lay sleeping in bed, her dreaming mind escaped through a tiny opening under her left eyelid, and the vision skills she possessed but barely knew how to control stretched their wings and took flight. Her dream-vision rose up from her head, and shot out of the window, between the slats in the shutters. Picking up speed, her vision flew along deserted tunnels, through caverns, bouncing from fixed point to fixed point, as she observed the dark, sleeping city.

  A small part of her consciousness remained lucid, and watched as her sight raced through the underground streets, always heading in the same direction, until it came to a halt in front of a large, barred window.

  Killop’s room.

  She had looked in here once before, not long after Getherin had told her the Kellach were still in the city. What she had seen then had crushed her hopes. Killop, it had been obvious, was with the red-haired woman, Kallie, and they had seemed happy together.

  She had vowed then that she would never look in Killop’s bedroom again, in case she saw something that she would never be able to un-see, and she had kept that promise, though she had been tempted at times.

  But there she was again, her dream-vision having guided her to that point.

  Her vision pushed through the glass, and entered the small, sparsely furnished room. She saw a single figure lying in the bed, and relaxed. Approaching, she realised it was Kallie and, in an instant, she pulled her vision back outside.

  Where was he? she thought, as her sight followed the line of the building around to the other side. She stopped, seeing a light on in the big room where the Kellach ate and spent time together.

  She pushed through the glass, and glanced around.

  At a table, with just a single lamp lit, Killop was sitting talking to Simiona, who looked upset. Daphne could hear nothing. At this point, her conscious mind would have pulled back, but in her dream-state, her powers felt no moral qualms, and instead she pushed her vision into Simiona’s mind, remaining silent, so that the Rahain would not feel her presence.

  She felt a powerful surge as Simiona’s emotions washed over her: fear, anxiety, pity, frustration, loneliness.

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ she heard Killop say, the first time she had ever heard him speak, and it was through another’s ears.

  ‘I’m sorry, Killop,’ Simiona said, ‘but that’s what he told me. She’s been captured.’

  Who’s been captured? Daphne thought. Who are they talking about?

  ‘How could they have taken her alive?’

  ‘He didn’t say,’ Simiona said, ‘but she’s on her way here, to the capital.’

  Now we’re getting somewhere, Daphne thought. It must be the Kellach terrorist.

  ‘Are they going to put her on trial?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said.

  ‘My sister would never have gone down without a fight.’

  What? His sister?

  Daphne’s vision zipped back all the way to her head in a flash, a feeling so nauseating and disorientating that she rolled right off the bed.

  She hit the wooden floorboards with a thud, and retched.

  ‘The Kellach terrorist is his sister,’ she groaned, dizzy and weak, her eyes closed. ‘Killop’s sister.’

  ‘Are you all right?’ a man’s voice said. Getherin. That’s right, she thought, she was in Getherin’s apartment. She groaned. Already she was starting to forget the entire dream. She retched again. Was it a dream? Had she just used her vision in her sleep? It seemed she had, if the pain in her guts and the throbbing headache were any judge.

  ‘Daphne, are you all right?’ Getherin repeated. ‘Here, take my hand.’

  She opened her eyes, her sight blurry. In the faint candlelight, she saw the outline of his body, lying on the bed above her, his hand lowered. She took it.

  He pulled her up onto the mattress, and she lay on her back, her head spinning.

  ‘Bad dreams?’ he said.

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘You called out.’

  ‘Did I?’ She couldn’t remember speaking, her mind was too groggy. ‘What did I say?’

  ‘Oh, nothing interesting,’ he said. ‘Just ramblings. Best go back to sleep.’

  She relaxed into his arms, and he blew the candle out.

  Getherin had gone when she next awoke, the light from the morning streetlamps shining through the shutters.

  Her vision-induced aches had passed, but she still felt anxious about what had happened. Had she really used a combination of line, range and inner-vision? She guessed that she should be able to use range-vision, lying as it did on the scale between two skills she knew she possessed, but she had never attempted it in her waking life.

  She would have to practise, she realised, feeling quite excited. Range-vision would expand the limits of what she could see from a few miles to dozens, or even hundreds, if she was good at it.

  She washed and dressed, and put the kettle on to make coffee, using a supply that she kept in one of Getherin’s kitchen cupboards.

  It was while she was on her second cigarette, relaxing out on the balcony in the morning air, that she remembered what Killop had said.

  The terrorist, the one the Rahain had just caught. She’s his sister.

  There was one way to test if it had been a dream or not, she thought, as she left Getherin’s apartment. She kept to the shadows on her way to the embassy. There was a bustle about the senate cavern that morning, a lively air to the officials and politicians hurrying about their business.

  ‘Good morning, Miss Holdfast,’ Brookes said as she came into the main reception.

  ‘Good morning,’ Daphne replied. ‘Could I borrow one of those newspapers, please?’

  ‘Of course, take your pick,’ Brookes said, gesturing to the pile on the desk in front of her.

  Daphne took a quick look at the front pages. They were all variations on the same theme: KELLACH MAGE CAPTURED!, their headlines screamed.

  Before she could begin to digest the implications, she heard Joley behind her.

  ‘Do you have a minute?’ the ambassador’s secretary asked, his face sour.

  Daphne nodded, and followed the man to his office, where he closed the door.

  ‘This won’t take long,’ he said, ‘but I have to ask you. Have you mentioned to anyone at all that you’re working for the embassy?’

  ‘No,’ she replied. ‘No one that doesn’t already work here.’

  ‘Are you quite sure?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure. I think I would remember that.’

  ‘Very well, miss,’ he said, ‘but I had to ask.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Unfortunately,’ he
sighed, ‘it seems that your status as an embassy employee has become public knowledge.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Don’t worry, you still have a job,’ he said, ‘but some of the work you’d been scheduled to carry out will have to be re-assigned to someone else. You’re not much use as a secret agent if everyone knows your secret. It also means that there are certain rules you will have to follow, if you are a public face and representative of the embassy, but on the bright side, at least you will be able to come in by the main entrance now.’

  ‘Do I get to keep the house?’

  ‘Of course,’ Joley said. ‘The ambassador is a man of his word.’

  ‘Thank him for me.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘So,’ Daphne said, ‘do you think there’s a leak in the embassy?’

  Joley narrowed his eyes. ‘We have our suspicions.’

  ‘Anything I can do to help?’

  ‘We can handle it, thank you,’ he said. ‘Now, I have something for you to do today.’

  He pulled a letter from his desk drawer.

  ‘This arrived for you this morning,’ he said. ‘It seems that even Councillor Laodoc knows how to find you.’

  He passed her the letter, and she scanned it. It was an invitation to visit his art faculty, to inspect the progress being made into the research on the Kellach Brigdomin.

  Daphne felt a weight in the pit of her stomach. Only a short while before, she would have been excited about the prospect of visiting Killop, but after the previous night’s dream, the thought made her queasy.

  ‘I think today would be the perfect day for a visit,’ Joley said. ‘The ambassador is very curious about what the Rahain have been doing with those three Kellach slaves, and this seems a good opportunity to find out. May I ask why he chose you, Miss Holdfast?’

  ‘I visited them once before.’

  ‘Really?’ Joley asked, looking amused. ‘How did that go?’

  ‘I screamed in the councillor’s face about his treatment of the slaves.’

  ‘Well, this time,’ he said, raising his eyebrows, ‘as a representative of the embassy…’

  ‘Yes, I get it. I’ll restrain myself.’

  ‘Jolly good,’ he said. ‘Get yourself along there then, and take a good look around. Ask lots of questions. Then write it all up and hand it in. Should be an easy enough day for you.’

  ‘Daphne!’ Simiona cried as she entered the front hall of Laodoc’s mansion. ‘How good to see you again!’

  The Holdings woman muttered her thanks to the doorman, and shook Simiona’s hand.

  ‘Wasn’t sure you’d remember me.’

  ‘Of course we do,’ Simiona replied. ‘It was I who delivered the invitation for you to come. Master Laodoc is most looking forward to showing you around.’

  Damn, Daphne thought, as she realised that she would have to act surprised, when in fact she already knew most details about the house, and how the Kellach were living. She was impressed, however, she wouldn’t have to fake that. Despite the fact that they were still legally slaves, Laodoc seemed to give them as much freedom as he was able.

  ‘Tea?’ Simiona asked.

  Daphne opened her mouth to speak.

  ‘But I heard you prefer coffee,’ Simiona said, smiling.

  ‘You have some?’

  ‘We do,’ she said. ‘I think my master might be trying to impress you. Especially once he found out you were working for the Holdings embassy.’

  She led Daphne through the carpeted halls and corridors, until they came to a door. Simiona knocked, and entered.

  Daphne followed her into a small office, where Laodoc was seated behind an old wooden desk. There was a coffee pot and three cups on a table nearby.

  ‘Ahh, Lady Holdfast,’ Laodoc exclaimed as he saw her, rising to his feet. ‘Greetings.’

  ‘And to you, Councillor,’ she replied, bowing. ‘And many thanks for your kind invitation. Although, one tiny thing. My dear mother is the only Lady Holdfast, I am merely a miss.’

  ‘My humblest apologies, miss,’ he said, his tongue flickering. ‘And, of course, congratulations on your new post at the Embassy of the Realm of the Holdings. What was your title there, again…?’

  ‘Liaison Officer,’ she said. ‘Just a polite term for the person the embassy sends out when they want to talk to someone. Officially.’

  ‘So this could be termed an official visit?’ he said. ‘And I wouldn’t be abusing the truth if I happened to mention it as such in the council chamber?’

  ‘That would be acceptable,’ Daphne said. ‘I’m here in a personal capacity, but also on behalf of the ambassador.’

  They paused as Simiona set out cups of coffee in front of them, along with a bowl of sugar.

  ‘I confess,’ Laodoc said, as he scanned the table, ‘I have never tasted coffee before. Tea, I have come to hold dear to my heart, so I have high hopes, I admit.’

  Daphne spooned in three sugars, and picked up her cup.

  ‘It’s a more unforgiving drink than tea,’ she said, taking a sip. ‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘Best I’ve had since Sanang. Whoever made this should be complimented.’

  Laodoc smiled. ‘Simiona made it,’ he said, as the girl blushed and looked down at her feet. ‘I had her go out and learn from a café, then she came back and has been experimenting for days.’ He sighed. ‘It’s been costing me a fortune, to be honest.’

  Daphne laughed.

  Laodoc took a sip, then sucked his cheeks in, a sour expression on his face.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Unforgiving. Quite.’

  Simiona passed him a cup of tea. ‘I had this ready just in case, master.’

  Daphne watched as Laodoc smiled and gave his slave a look. A look that reminded her of the way her own father looked at her, with love, and a fierce pride.

  Simiona beamed.

  ‘Naturally,’ Laodoc said, as they stood next to a solid set of steel bars blocking a passageway, ‘security is our highest priority, and this gate is the first of two that completely seal off the faculty from the rest of the mansion. In fact, once we pass this gate, then legally we are on academy grounds.’

  He signalled to the guards, who swung the gate open.

  Laodoc went through, followed by Simiona and Daphne. They had just come from the office of Professor Geolaid, after having been subjected to a lecture by her about the progress they had been making. Daphne had enjoyed the parts about Kellach history, and what they had reported about the recent conflict, but had been bored by the lists of animals, trees and every other difference in nature that existed between the Rahain and the Kellach lands. Laodoc had joined the professor in pointing out to her the strange fact that the Holdings and the Kellach peninsula shared a few animals and plants, but she hadn’t found it particularly impressive.

  ‘This,’ Laodoc said, as they turned a corner in the passageway, ‘is where the guards are billeted, in these rooms on the right. Opposite is the kitchen, the servants’ quarters, and Simiona’s office.’

  Daphne nodded.

  Laodoc gestured to a guard, who pulled on a cord. A bell rang once, and the guards at the end of the corridor unlocked and opened a barred gate.

  ‘And here we are at last,’ Laodoc said, as they passed through into a small hallway, with an atrium skylight overhead. ‘This is where the Kellach live. These are their private rooms, and on this side is their common room, and the teaching room.’

  She heard the gate lock behind her, and the bell rang twice.

  A door on the left opened, and Bridget strode out.

  ‘Daphne,’ she nodded, smirking.

  The Holdings woman stood amazed for a moment. Bridget looked fit and healthy, her skin and hair were nothing like the last time they had met, when the prisoner had stretched out her arm through the bars of her cage in supplication.

  ‘You look well,’ Daphne said.

  ‘Bored, mostly,’ she replied, laughing. She approached and gave Daphne a firm hug that nearly crac
ked her spine, and she felt glad her left arm had its protective armour on.

  Bridget walked with them as Daphne was shown round the facilities.

  ‘It’s all very impressive, Councillor,’ she said, as they sat at the large table in the common room. ‘You really have done a most wonderful job here.’

  ‘Too kind, thank you,’ Laodoc said, flushing.

  Simiona was sitting a little uncomfortably.

  Daphne said nothing, and the silence stretched.

  ‘If you’re wondering,’ Bridget said, her face reddening, ‘where Killop and Kallie are, they uh, thought it best if they stayed in their room.’

  ‘I think they are maybe feeling unwell,’ Laodoc blustered.

  Bridget smirked, and shrugged.

  Daphne ignored Laodoc, and turned to face Bridget. ‘May I ask why?’

  Bridget looked at her for moment.

  ‘Killop,’ she began. ‘He… was having dreams. About you.’

  Daphne felt her heart break.

  ‘Tell him I do too,’ she said, lowering her face.

  ‘I don’t really see how that would help, to be honest,’ Bridget said. ‘Look, we all saw the way you stared at each other when you met before. It was obvious what you were both thinking. Do you want to risk that again? It took them thirds to get over it last time. Sorry.’

  She felt embarrassed, humiliated even, and wished she had kept her mouth shut. Of course Bridget was right. What would she do if she saw Killop? Throw herself at him? She had to remember she worked for the embassy now.

  The others around the table remained silent as she regained her composure.

  ‘You’re right, Bridget,’ she said. ‘I apologise.’

  Laodoc breathed a little sigh of relief.

  ‘It’s been a most wonderful tour,’ Daphne said, smothering her feelings. ‘Instructive and inspiring. My report back to the embassy will be a positive one, I assure you.’

  ‘Thank you, miss,’ Laodoc said. ‘Would it be possible to obtain a copy once it has been prepared?’

  ‘I’ll have one sent over as soon as it’s ready,’ she replied, standing.