honest with me,' he said. 'What happens when their usefulness expires? Is it likely that I will have to...you know?'
'What? Dispatch them?'
'Yes.'
Conn smirked and held out the keys for Winterburne to take.
'Whatever the future holds for them, they're your responsibility now,' he said, and turned his back for a moment. Then he seemed to have a change of heart and turned back to face Winterburne. 'Let me put it this way,' he added, 'if I was you, I wouldn't be wanting to get to know them too well, just in case.'
He spun around and walked away down the corridor, disappearing into the darkness.
oOo
Winterburne first lit one candle and then the next before working along the line and before long, one side of the room was a wall of little flames, throwing their light across to the other side. The youngsters huddled together, silent, and with fearful looks on their faces. He knelt as near as he dared to the two closest children; a girl that Winterburne suspected was near to being a teenager and a younger girl of what he thought would be nearer to seven or eight years old. He had brought food and drink for the children, bread, cheese and beef, but none of them had made any movement towards the tray.
'My name is Richard,' Winterburne said.
The girl nearest him gave no flash of emotion on her face; nothing, that was, except suspicion. She had her arm around the younger girl whose face was buried into the older girl's shoulder.
'What's yours?' he asked.
After a moment the older girl spoke. 'Natalia,' she said.
'Are you hungry, Natalia?'
'A bit.'
'What about your friend?'
'Sofia. Her name is Sofia. And she's not my friend.' Natalia looked down at Sofia and hugged her tighter. 'She's my sister.'
Winterburne nodded. 'I see,' he said. 'Do you think that Sofia might want something to eat?'
'I think we all would,' Natalia said.
'I'm not going to hurt you,' Winterburne looked around the faces of all the hostages. 'I'm not going to hurt any of you.'
He had just drawn a line in the sand, he realised, even if for now he was the only one that knew it. The boys and girls looked back at him, their frightened eyes wide.
'Help yourself to as much food as you want,' he added, 'I can always get more.'
Sofia looked up from Natalia's shoulder. Her eyes were dark and tired, and it was clear to Winterburne that she had been crying.
'Why are we here?' Natalia asked.
'Don't worry about that,' Winterburne said. 'For now, just eat.'
One by one the children came forward and reached out, grabbing a bread roll and other morsels from the platter. Before much time had passed they were stuffing the food into their mouths. As they ate, he recognised the three children that his group had taken from the Rennick villa, and the older child of the three, a boy, eyed him suspiciously.
'You'll never get away with this,' the Rennick boy said.
'Hush, Kasper!' Natalia said.
'I'm not scared of him, Natalia.' Kasper placed his plate beside him and stood.
'You know each other?' Winterburne asked. 'How?'
Kasper stepped forward and was about to speak, but Natalia raised her voice before he could say anything.
'No, Kasper!' she said. 'Keep your words to yourself.'
'Why?' Kasper asked. 'I'm almost a man. I can defend you all.'
Winterburne smiled at the confidence of the boy, his fear, if he'd even had any, had obviously gone now. He wasn't sure whether he should feel glad that the children were relaxing, or worried that they didn't seem afraid of him.
'How do you know each other?' he asked again.
'Through our parents,' Natalia said. 'They all sort of...work together.'
The girl who had been sitting next to the boy named Kasper stood too and addressed Winterburne. 'They are lecters,' she said, nodding curtly, and then sitting back down again, crossing her arms in defiance.
Kasper spun around with a frown on his face. 'No they aren't, Naomi,' he said.
'Yes they are!' Naomi said.
'There's no such thing as a lector.' Kasper's face showed his displeasure at the words of his younger sister.
'What's a lector?' Winterburne asked.
Natalia rose from her seat and walked over to Kasper and Naomi, helping them back to their own places where their food was waiting. She picked up the tray next to Kasper and gave it back to him.
'Eat,' she said, and then turned to face Winterburne. 'Our parents are electors, Richard. My father is Duke Alexandyr Whitney,' she said.
'And my mother is Duchess Kaitlynn Rennick,' Kasper said, spitting the words out, 'but I expect you already know that, considering it was you that took me from my bed.'
Winterburne nodded, smiling at the boy.
Natalia pointed at the three other children, who up until now had not spoken, they remained quiet at the back of the group.
'These are the children of Duke Becker,' she said.
Winterburne repeated his question, to Natalia. 'What is an elector?'
'All our parents are member of the Royal Council, Richard,' Natalia said. 'They help to make the laws.'
'But why are they called electors?' Winterburne was still not quite clear.
'Don't you know anything?' Kasper shook his head. 'It is they who vote to decide who will be King or Queen.'
36
The Eighteenth Day of Lo-autumn,
Imperial Year 2332
'Wait here,' Conn said.
The two men that he had chosen to be stationed at the entrance to the warehouse took up their positions on either side of the wide planking doors, folding their arms and looking up and down the quiet back street, now still and silent in the deep of the night. One of the doors was already open, not much, but just enough for a man to slip through. Conn turned sideways on and slipped his way inside.
Crates had been stacked from floor to ceiling, one on top of the other, and it didn't take much imagination to think that they had been formed into a walkway with looming wooden walls towering high above, leading through into the centre of the building. He reached the core and stepped out into what could easily have been described as an arena formed from the crates for, he guessed, the purpose of a dog-fight or bare-knuckle contest perhaps. He looked down at the ground to check his footing, the dusty brown earth floor showed the drag marks and footprints of what seemed to be a thousand passings.
Within the arena, a richly dressed woman with brown hair piled upon her head looked up from her pacing.
'Where are my children!' she screeched, as she saw Conn arrive at the centre of the warehouse.
She had been the first to see him enter and the two men that accompanied her looked around as they heard her reaction.
'You received your invitations, I see,' Conn said. 'And, to answer your question, Duchess Rennick, your children are safe,' he added. 'But I would caution you against any display of violence that you might later regret.'
Duke Whitney placed his hand on the Duchess's shoulder. 'Be calm, Kaitlynn. It won't help the situation if you allow your temper to show itself.'
The Duchess still glared at Conn, her face hard and thunderous, but she stepped back a little as a third man came forward from the shadow and joined the two others.
'Who are you?' the man said. 'What is this all about? Explain yourself, man.'
Conn crossed his arms. 'You'll have to wait until my benefactor gets here, Duke Bekker. Then it will become clear for you.'
'Who?' Duchess Rennick asked. 'Until who gets here?'
Conn smiled. 'We call him "The Hood". It's a bit melodramatic if you ask me, but one of the men suggested it, and it's sort of...stuck. Anyway, he seems to like it.'
'I just want to know that my children are safe,' the Duchess said. She looked round at the two men standing nearby. 'We all do.'
'They are fine,' Conn said, 'and being tended by one of my best men, hand-picked him for the job myself. And, in case you are wonderin
g, they are not here,' he waved his arms around him, gesturing around the warehouse, 'so there's no use in wasting your energy thinking that you can just tear this place apart and go away all happy families.'
The three looked around each other's faces, and then Duke Bekker stepped forward.
'So where is this Hood, then?' the Duke said, placing his hands on his hips. 'I should have thought that he would be keen to talk to us, or else why go to all this trouble.'
'Oh, he is keen, your grace,' Conn said, 'trust me.'
Away, towards the front of the warehouse, a door creaked opened, and then slammed shut. The three electors looked at each other as they realised that it must be their host arriving.
'Sounds like we have company, at last.'
Conn finished his words and an uneasy silence hung in the air as they all listened to the clumping of the footsteps that made their way towards the centre of the warehouse. Then, The Hood emerged from one of the man-made corridors of crates, drawing level with Conn before stopping. Conn turned to look at him, but his face was hidden in a thin black cotton wrap, and his hood had been drawn up over his head. There was no way that the electors would recognise him.
'Welcome, your graces,' the Hood said, his voice muffled a little behind the garment. 'Please accept my apologies for the abruptness of the invitation,' he looked around at the high roofed building, 'and for the impromptu location. It is rough and ready but it was all I could muster at short notice and it will more than suffice.'
'Enough of this,' Duke Whitney said, raising his voice. 'What the hell is going on?' He had been standing next to the Duchess, but he stepped closer to the two gang members as he demanded his answer. 'Why have you taken our children?'
Although
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